Criss Brainard was appointed Fire Chief of San Miguel Fire & Rescue on March 22, 2017.

Chief Brainard began his EMS and Fire service career in 1978 when he attended Paramedic School at UCSD and in 1981 he was hired by San Diego Fire & Rescue. He promoted through all ranks until he retired from San Diego as a Deputy Chief in June 2014.  From June 2014, Brainard provided emergency system consulting until San Miguel hired him in August of 2016 as their Transition Consultant to bring the Department back to local control.

Chief Brainard has a passion for teaching Fire Behavior and Fire Investigation as well as EMTs and Paramedics at local colleges. Brainard has written dozens of articles in Fire and EMS journals on improving services provided to our customers and is a National Conference Speaker.  Chief Brainard considers being selected as San Miguel’s Fire Chief as a career highlight and feels honored to work with the men and women of San Miguel.