Dennis Rubin
Dennis L. Rubin was first appointed as a fire chief in December 1996. Chief Rubin’s experience in fire and rescue service spans more than 30 years: he has served as a line firefighter, company officer, command level officer, and fire chief in several major US cities.
In 1994, Rubin served as the president of the State Fire Chiefs Association of Virginia.
Rubin was the host fire chief for the 1999 Southeastern Fire Chiefs Association conference held in Dothan, Alabama. He served on several committees with the International Association of Fire Chiefs, including a two-year term as the Health and Safety Committee Chair. Chief Rubin was the host fire chief for the Wingspread IV and V conferences held in 1996 and 2006.
Chief Rubin’s educational accomplishments include a Bachelor’s of Science in Fire Administration from the University of Maryland and Associate’s in Applied Science in Fire Science Management from the Northern Virginia Community College. Chief Rubin is a graduate of the National Fire Academy’s Executive Fire Officers Program (EFOP) and the Naval Postgraduate School’s Executive Leadership Course in Homeland Security. Rubin is a Certified Emergency Manager (CEM), and a certified Incident Safety Officer, and has also obtained the Chief Fire Officer Designation (CFOD) and Chief Medical Officer Designation (CMOD) bestowed by the Center for Public Safety Excellence.
Rubin’s teaching credentials are significant: he has been an adjunct faculty member in several state fire-rescue training agencies and at the National Fire Academy. Rubin is a popular speaker and lecturer at the local, state, national, and international levels. Rubin has been a member of seven National Fire Academy course development teams, including NFA’s incident command, infection control, and tactical operations teams.
Rubin is the author of several emergency service textbooks. His first book is titled Rube’s Rules for Survival. This book is a collection of case studies dealing with the important topic of firefighter safety. The next book that Rubin released was Rube’s Rules for Leadership. The chief discusses his 13 core values and describes how each one can be applied to improve one’s personal leadership capabilities. Chief Rubin’s third book, D.C. Fire was released at the 2013 Fire Department Instructors Conference (FDIC) by Fire Engineering Books. Chief Rubin contributes to several fire-rescue service publications and has written more than 200 technical articles relating to fire department operations, administration, training, and safety.
Chief Rubin has three grown children and one grandson, and is an avid sports fan, supporting all of his hometown professional teams.
