Jerome Yarbrough Named Fire Chief

City Manager Kip Padgett today named Jerome Yarbrough Chief of the

Gainesville Fire Department. “I am confident Jerome will do an excellent job

as Chief. His experience and knowledge of the Fire Department and

involvement in the community made him the ideal candidate,” Padgett said.

Chief Yarbrough said he looks forward to continuing a career of service.

“There’s always plenty of work to do and I’m excited about the

challenge. We are currently focusing on end of the year training

requirements, transferring from paper to software and web based mobile

technology. These updates will improve proficiency on the fire scene, fire

prevention, and pre-fire plans,” Chief Yarbrough said.

Yarbrough has been employed with the City of Gainesville for 28 years.

He has served in the Fire Prevention division since 1997 as a Fire Inspector

and Arson Investigator. He served as Fire Marshal before being named

Deputy Fire Chief in August 2008 and Interim Fire Chief in October 2012.

Yarbrough is a Gainesville High School graduate and attended Lanier

Technical College as well as the Georgia Public Safety Training Center and

the National Fire Academy. He currently serves on the Board of Directors for

the Boys & Girls Club, Safe Kids, and the City of Gainesville

Retirement Board. He is a member of the Georgia Association of Fire

Chiefs, Georgia State Firefighters Association, National Fire Protection

Association and the International Fire Marshal’s Association.

Chief Yarbrough will be officially sworn in at the Gainesville City Council

meeting Tuesday, March 5 at 5:30pm.