Joe King

Alumni Spotlight

Growing up in Palm Coast, Volusia County Fire Chief Joe King said he never really thought about a career in the fire service.

“I never wanted to, as the kids say, be a fireman,” he joked. “Now look at me.”

His 33-year career began in 1990 in Ormond Beach, but it was sparked on May 17, 1985 – “Black Friday” to those who remember it – when two wildfires forced Palm Coast residents to evacuate. King’s family decamped to a friend’s place, but Joe wanted to hang out at the fire house because his sister’s fiancé at the time worked there.

King’s mom told him ‘Don’t let me find out you’re on a fire truck or something like that,’ and I’m like ‘No’ he recounted. “The next day she calls the fire department spitting mad. She saw me on the news fighting fires.”

The chief told her Joe was a “great kid” and convinced her to sign a waiver, and at 16, King became a volunteer firefighter. Two years later he was off to a junior college in Alabama on a baseball scholarship, but returned to finish his A.A. at Daytona State, joined the first fire program at Flagler Technical College and earned his EMT certificate from DSC. Around this time he also traded baseball for softball.

At a game one night he struck up a conversation with a couple of other softball players who happened to be firefighters. Learning he had graduated fire school and was working on his EMT certification, they returned the next night with a job application for the Ormond Beach Fire Department. He spent 23 years there, rising to the rank of Fire Captain.

“I tell everybody it was the best city I’ve ever worked for,” King said. “They cared about you.”

King returned to Daytona State to earn a B.A.S. in Supervision and Management. Early in 2013, he was diagnosed with thyroid cancer – not uncommon among firefighters who spend their lives around smoke.

Taking 12 weeks to recuperate, he was preparing to return to work when Flagler County Fire Rescue asked him to apply for an open Division Chief / Fire Marshal position. Only after receiving his family’s blessing, did he apply. He got the job and spent the next eight years helping the citizens of Flagler County and rising to the rank of Deputy Fire Chief.

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“To this day I tell people I never in my life wanted to be a fire chief,” he said. “Then I started realizing eventually you’ve got to make room for the people below you.”

He also realized earlier in his career the science of firefighting was evolving. He immersed himself in learning everything he could – attending conferences, sharing experiences with peers and mentors, participating in a leadership academy, and absorbing every leadership book on tape – which he listened to in the hours-long drives to tournaments as second baseman for the Daytona Beach Boyz over-50 men’s softball team.

“I think sometimes people get tired of me talking about the books, what I’ve learned, and why my focus is on the culture in the fire service,” he said. “It’s so important…If you want to be successful as a supervisor, you’ve got to make it about the people. You’re serving your people. They’re not working for you.”

In 2021 Volusia County posted a job opening for Deputy Fire Chief, which King promptly didn’t apply for until several of his mentors suggested he consider it. He got the job. Eight months later, Volusia Fire Chief Howard Bailey announced his plans to retire.

“I told them I want to help find Bailey’s replacement and support that person to be successful,” King said. “I liked being No. 2 and closer to the shift personnel.”

The County promoted him to Interim Chief and with some encouragement from fellow fire chiefs, he realized he was in the right position and was named Fire Chief on January 5, 2023.

“I love it here. I have an amazing staff,” he said. “I hope that in the time I’m here, I can make a difference.”

Managing a county-wide fire service encompassing 19 stations and 223 people, he’s focusing on the next generation, working to instill a customer service mindset, and encouraging his team to remember that they work for the people.

And 33 years in, he never forgets where he came from.