David M. McGrail

Dave McGrail is 25-year veteran of the fire service and a district chief with the Denver Fire Department. He has a very diverse emergency service background having previously served as the company commander of DFD Rescue Co. 1. Most of his career has been spent in areas of the city with numerous responses to emergency incidents and fires high-rise and standpipe equipped buildings.

He designed and helped implement the high-rise firefighting and standpipe equipment compliment used by the DFD, which has also been adopted by many fire departments across the country. He instructs internationally on a wide range of fire service topics, specializing in high-rise firefighting and standpipe operations. For the past ten years he has served as the lead instructor for the engine company (standpipe) hands-on training at the Fire Department Instructors Conference (FDIC) in Indianapolis.


He is a member of the FDIC Educational Advisory Board and is an editorial advisor and contributing editor for Fire Engineering magazine. He has authored countless articles, manuals, and training bulletins for numerous fire service publications, and has designed and helped implement safer high-rise operational procedures for the DFD and many other fire departments. Dave holds two Associate of Applied Science Degrees in Fire Science Technology and two Bachelor of Science Degrees, one in Human Resource Management, and the other in Fire Service Administration.