Meet the 3 men who are finalists to be KC’s next fire chief. None are locals
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- Kansas City announces three external fire chief finalists
- Public forum Thursday will introduce candidates
- Selection follows a chief’s term marked by lawsuits and line-of-duty deaths
Three men with decades of experience from fire departments across the country are finalists to head the Kansas City Fire Department, the city announced Tuesday.
The candidates, from Houston, Orlando and the Washington, D.C., area will be introduced at a public forum on Thursday, the city said. The event will give residents a chance to hear from the candidates and learn about their goals for the Kansas City Fire Department.
No internal KCFD candidates are among the finalists.
“Selecting our next Fire Chief is an important moment for Kansas City, and transparency is essential in that process,” City Manager Mario Vasquez said in the announcement sent to the media Tuesday afternoon.
“This forum gives residents a clear look at each finalist and their vision for the future of KCFD. I appreciate everyone taking the time to listen and stay engaged as we move forward.”
The finalists:
— Craig Buckley, who has served as Orlando’s interim fire chief, deputy chief overseeing Orlando’s Fire Operations Bureau and Deputy Chief of Administrative Services.
According to the city’s announcement, Buckley “brings more than four decades of all-hazards emergency response experience across local, state, and federal service.”
“His background includes leading airport fire operations, managing major special events such as Universal Orlando’s incident response, and serving on FEMA’s National Incident Management Assistance Team. Buckley’s experience reflects deep operational leadership, extensive hazardous materials expertise, and a long history of supervisory command roles in large, urban departments.”
— Michael Marino, who has 25 years of experience in fire, EMS, homeland security and emergency management.
Marino has held senior leadership roles in the National Capital Region, including Director of Emergency Preparedness for the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority and Assistant Fire Chief of Prince George’s County (MD) Fire/EMS, according to Tuesday’s announcement.
“Marino has commanded complex operations involving special operations, intelligence, mass-casualty response, and large-scale incident planning,” it said. “His background is rooted in innovation, data-driven decision-making, and regional collaboration. He brings significant experience integrating fire service operations with emergency management, law enforcement, and federal partners.”
— Michael Mire, who has spent nearly three decades in leadership roles in the Houston Fire Department, which is among the largest in the country.
As an assistant chief, Mire oversaw emergency response, special operations and all-hazards incident management and was responsible for a 670-square-mile service area and more than 4,000 responders, according to the announcement.
“Mire has overseen complex emergency operations, major multi-alarm incidents, and department-wide programs aimed at modernization and service improvement,” it said. “His background reflects deep operational knowledge, experience serving a large and diverse population, and a strong emphasis on readiness and community-focused leadership.”
Thursday’s forum, described as a “listening session,” runs from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. at the Truman Forum Auditorium in the Kansas City Public Library – Plaza Branch, 4801 Main Street. The event will be moderated by John Hall of Crux KC.
After delivering a short presentation, the candidates will respond to “pre-selected community questions,” the city’s announcement said. Spanish and American Sign Language interpreters will be provided.
Challenges lie ahead
The new fire chief will replace Ross Grundyson, a 30-year veteran of the department who announced in September that he would retire in January.
Grundyson’s nearly three-year term as chief has been marked by the deaths of two firefighters, lawsuits and felony charges against some in his ranks.
Possible candidates for Grundyson’s replacement had included Deputy Chief Laura Ragusa, who has a lawsuit pending against the city, and Deputy Chief James Dean.
Ragusa sued the city in February, alleging that Grundyson had discriminated against her after she informed him of what she believed were illegal and unethical practices related to department contracts and reporting requirements for federal reimbursements.
In June, Ragusa was granted permission to amend the suit to include new allegations regarding what she claims are the city’s unfair and discriminatory hiring practices in picking a new fire chief.
Ragusa is the highest-ranking female member of the fire department in uniform. She had applied for the chief job three times since former Chief Donna Lake retired in January 2023.
“We’re very disappointed that Ms. Ragusa is not a finalist,” Ragusa’s attorney, Erin Vernon, told The Star on Tuesday.
Dean, a high-ranking Black officer at the fire department with nearly four decades of experience, in June threatened to sue the city if he was not allowed to compete for the department’s top job.
Ten days after he emailed his threat to seek a court injunction pausing the selection process, city officials reversed course, telling him they would no longer shut him out of the hiring process because he lacked entry-level firefighter certificates that weren’t required when he joined the department.
Dean did not respond to a request for comment Tuesday.
KCFD has been hit with several lawsuits under Grundyson’s term, including those alleging discrimination, retaliation and harassment.
Last year, a firefighter and paramedic received a $1.3 million settlement from the city to compensate her for years of what she said was mistreatment and abuse from male co-workers and her superiors because she was a woman, a lesbian and older than most of her peers when she graduated from the fire academy at age 40.
She had two other discrimination lawsuits heading toward trial when the Kansas City Council approved the settlement agreement, the largest settlement in city history for a discrimination case involving the fire department.
In February 2023, firefighter Dominic Biscari was charged with three counts of involuntary manslaughter in connection with a December 2021 crash in which he drove a pumper truck at full throttle through a red light in a busy Westport intersection. The fire truck hit several cars and a pedestrian before slamming into a building, causing it to collapse.
Three people died as a result of the crash. Biscari, 21 at the time, was assigned to desk duty at fire department headquarters immediately after the wreck. Six months later, with no charges yet filed, the city and the union agreed to let him return to full duty as a firefighter, but he was prohibited from driving a fire truck.
After he was charged in 2023, Biscari immediately pleaded guilty, avoiding a jury trial in which he faced the possibility of being convicted and sentenced to up to 12 years in prison. A judge instead sentenced him to three years’ probation and 40 hours of community service.
The fire department then suspended Biscari without pay, and Grundyson said he would seek Biscari’s termination. The International Association of Fire Fighters Local 42, which represents KCFD employees with the rank of captain or below, filed a grievance to block Biscari’s termination, and an arbitrator ruled in Biscari’s favor in March 2024, saying he deserved no more than a three-day unpaid suspension for causing the fatal crash.
The arbitrator also ordered the city to pay Biscari back wages and benefits, as well as the legal costs that Local 42 accrued in pursuing the grievance. And the arbitrator directed the city to wipe Biscari’s personnel record clean of any reference to the crash.
The city appealed the arbitrator’s decision, alleging that he exceeded his authority. The appeal has been the subject of court action ever since, with a proposed $915,000 settlement rejected by the City Council in May.
Firefighter deaths
Grundyson also has faced the loss of two firefighters who died in the line of duty in the past year.
In April, firefighter paramedic Graham Hoffman, 29, died after being stabbed in the chest in the back of an ambulance while transporting a patient to a hospital on what started as a medical call from the police.
And in September 2024, Kyle Brinker, 33, drowned during an annual swim test at the swimming pool at the Gladstone Community Center. The Star revealed the cause of death in August after obtaining the autopsy report. The fire department had previously withheld that information, stating only that Brinker died after suffering “a medical emergency during a training exercise.”
In a statement days later, Grundyson said the rescue division firefighters who tried to resuscitate Brinker “not only met but exceeded” the standards for that care set out by the National Fire Protection Association.
