Chief Richard Carrizzo has been in the fire and emergency service for more than 39 years and is currently the Fire Chief for the Southern Platte Fire Protection District (MO). Since his appointment to Fire Chief in 1995, he has successfully managed the transition from an all-volunteer to a combination department, to a fully career department operating out of four stations. Active in local, state and national fire service professional organizations, Chief Carrizzo served as President for the International Association of Fire Chiefs (IAFC) during the 2020-21 term; is Past-President of the Heart of America Metro Fire Chief’s Council; and executive Board member for two regional fire chief associations. Regional collaboration is very important, and he serves on the Mid-America Regional Council’s (MARC) Public Safety Communications Board as one of two metro fire chief representatives coordinating and setting policy for the entire 9-1-1 system in the nine counties and 120 cities within the metropolitan, bi-state region of Kansas City. Since 2002, he has also served as a fire representative on the Regional Homeland Security Coordinating Committee (RHSCC) within MARC and current sits on RHSCC’s Executive Policy Committee to set policy for the operations and future of coordinating body. Chief Carrizzo he holds a Master of Business Administration degree, a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration, an Associate degree in Applied Science in Fire Science and is a graduate of NFA Executive Fire Officer Program. He is also a graduate of the Executive Leaders Program at the Naval Postgraduate School for Homeland Defense and Security. He also holds the designation of MIFireE.
Chief Richard Carrizzo is chair of the FirstNet Authority Board.
