Mike Burton

Mike Burton

Mike Burton, MS, BS, EFO, CFO, Fire Chief, Pinellas Suncoast Fire Rescue District (Ret.);
Tamarac, FL Fire Rescue Department (Ret.); Greenville, NC (Ret.); Grand Rapids, MI
(Ret.); St. Petersburg, FL (Ret.)

Mike Burton is a 46-year veteran of the fire and EMS service. Burton started his career in St.
Petersburg, FL. and subsequently served as the fire chief in Grand Rapids, MI; Greenville, NC;
Tamarac, FL; and recently retired from the Pinellas Suncoast Fire Rescue District.

Burton is a credentialed Chief Fire Officer through the Center for Public Safety Excellence and
serves as a peer reviewer for Chief Fire Officer Candidates for the Center for Public Safety
Excellence, Commission on Fire Accreditation International. He serves the International
Association of Fire Chiefs (IAFC) on their Program Planning Committee for their annual
international conference and served six years on the IAFC’s Human Relations Committee.

He holds a master’s degree from Grand Canyon University in Executive Fire Service Leadership, and a bachelor’s in Organizational Studies from Eckerd College. He is also a graduate of the Executive Fire Officer Program through the U.S. Fire Administration, Federal Emergency Management Agency and serves as an instructor at the National Fire Academy.

With support from the National Development & Research Institute, Inc., he also provides instruction through United In Service, a diverse group of colleagues committed to social justice issues within the fire service.

Burton has been married to his wife Mary for 45 years and they enjoy seven grandchildren.