Dennis M. Jenkerson was appointed as the 10th Fire Commissioner and Chief of the St. Louis Fire Department on November 19, 2007 by Former Mayor Francis Slay. A third generation St. Louis firefighter, he has thirty-nine years of operational and tactical firefighting experience.
Commissioner Jenkerson has served the St. Louis Fire Department in the capacity of a firefighter, fire captain and battalion chief, and is certified and experienced in each of the department's many domains including fire suppression, emergency medical services, aircraft rescue, vehicle entrapment, collapse rescue, high angle rescue, rescue diving and hazardous materials management; including chemical, biological, explosive and radiological incidents. As administrator, Commissioner Jenkerson has served as an incident commander in the city's busiest fire district for the last decade and has established and managed essential department programs such as the Bio Watch Operations for the City of St. Louis, Fair St. Louis, the Mass Casualty Response System for Lambert Field, Y2K Compliance and the department's first in-house EMT certification program. Serving as Incident Commander, Commissioner Jenkerson has managed numerous major city events such as the Major League BaseballWorld Series in 2004 and 2006, the NCAA Final Four Basketball Tournament in 2005, the Missouri Democratic National Convention in Boston, Massachusetts in 2004 and several full-scale exercises under the Department of Homeland Security. He has also served as a Field Commander at St. Louis Lambert International Airport. Experience and his numerous fortes, have landed Commissioner Jenkerson on a number of committees including the Mayor's Strategic Planning Committee for Mass Casualty Incidents, Continuing Review for the Washington University School of Medicine Human Studies Board, Standards and Practice review committee member for the Washington University Institutional Biological and Chemical Safety Board, the St. Louis Fire Department Disciplinary Review Board, inter-department research, development and procurement committees, St. Louis Fire Department Safety Committee and special operations committees under the St. Louis Area Regional Response System. Commissioner Jenkerson also serves as a technical advisor for a number of federal, state and local agencies including the United States Marine Corps, the Department of Homeland Security, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the National Fire Academy, United States Representative Russ Carnahan, the University of Missouri, Department of Public Health, offices of the City of St. Louis, as a member of the St. Louis City Local Emergency Planning Committee and as an expert in hazardous materials and incident command for mutual aid partners in the St. Louis Metropolitan area. In a collaborative research effort, Commissioner Jenkerson's work has been published as "Decontamination of Non-Ambulatory Victims in a Simulated Chemical Contamination Scenario;" American Industrial Hygiene Conference; Chicago, IL ; and "Specialized Issues in Health Risk—Assessment of Decontamination Practices For A Simulated Contaminant Exposure In A Civilian Population;" American Industrial Hygiene Conference; Dallas, TX Motivated by a quest for knowledge and a desire to use that knowledge and experience to propel our nation's fire service into the future, Chief Jenkerson is a staunch supporter of employee development through education and training, and utilization of technology and innovation to continuously improve the department's level of service and assure that employees perform their work in the safest, most efficient manner. Commissioner Jenkerson serves on the following community boards as an advising member, The Salvation Army, American Red Cross, Mathews-Dickey Boys and Girls Club, St Louis Fire Department Lifesaving Foundation, Heat-Up and Cool Down St. Louis, and St.Louis BackStoppers.
