Dennis M. Jenkerson was appointed as the 10th Fire Commissioner of the

St. Louis Fire Department The St. Louis Fire Department (STLFD or STL City Fire) provides emergency medical services, fire cause determination, fire prevention, fire suppression, hazardous materials mitigation, and rescue services to the city of St. Louis, Missouri. T ...

on November 19, 2007 by Former Mayor

Francis Slay Francis Gerard Slay (born March 18, 1955) is an American politician and lawyer who served as the 45th Mayor of St. Louis, Missouri from 2001 to 2017. The first mayor of the city of St. Louis to be elected to the office four consecutive times, Sl ...

. A third generation St. Louis firefighter, he has thirty-nine years of operational and tactical firefighting experience. Newly appointed Fire Commissioner Dennis Jenkerson https://www.stltoday.com/news/from-2007-citys-new-fire-chief-is-the-ultimate-insider/article_e42a6ce0-88bb-11e0-8c3f-001a4bcf6878.html

Early life and education

Commissioner Jenkerson earned a Bachelor of Arts degree, Summa Cum Laude, in Organizational Leadership and Development from

Saint Louis University Saint Louis University (SLU) is a private Jesuit research university with campuses in St. Louis, Missouri, United States, and Madrid, Spain. Founded in 1818 by Louis William Valentine DuBourg, it is the oldest university west of the Mississip ...

, with minors in psychology and biology. He has completed coursework at

Missouri Southern State College Missouri Southern State University (Missouri Southern, MSSU, or MoSo) is a public university in Joplin, Missouri. It was established in 1937 as Joplin Junior College. The university enrolled 4,346 students in Fall 2021. History Missouri Southern ...

toward a Bachelor of Science degree in biology and chemistry and holds an Associates of Science degree in Fire Engineering from

St. Louis Community College–Forest Park St. Louis Community College–Forest Park (also known as STLCC-Forest Park, and Forest Park) is a public community college in St. Louis, Missouri. It is one of the four schools of the St. Louis Community College System and is one of nine communit ...

. Dedicated to sharing his knowledge and passion for the fire service, Commissioner Jenkerson is an adjunct instructor at the National Fire Academy in Emmitsburg, Maryland,

Southwestern Illinois College Southwestern Illinois College is a public community college in Illinois with campuses in Belleville, Granite City, and Red Bud. It also has off-campus sites throughout the district, including Scott Air Force Base and the East St. Louis Commu ...

, the

University of Missouri The University of Missouri (Mizzou, MU, or Missouri) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Columbia, Missouri. It is Missouri's largest university and the flagship of the four-campus Universit ...

and the State of Missouri Bureau of Emergency Medical Services.

Career

Commissioner Jenkerson has served the

in the capacity of a firefighter, fire captain and battalion chief, and is certified and experienced in each of the department's many domains including fire suppression, emergency medical services, aircraft rescue, vehicle entrapment, collapse rescue, high angle rescue, rescue diving and hazardous materials management; including chemical, biological, explosive and radiological incidents. As administrator, Commissioner Jenkerson has served as an incident commander in the city's busiest fire district for the last decade and has established and managed essential department programs such as the Bio Watch Operations for the City of St. Louis, Fair St. Louis, the Mass Casualty Response System for Lambert Field, Y2K Compliance and the department's first in-house EMT certification program. Serving as Incident Commander, Commissioner Jenkerson has managed numerous major city events such as the Major League Baseball World Series in 2004 and 2006, the NCAA Final Four Basketball Tournament in 2005, the Missouri

Democratic National Convention The Democratic National Convention (DNC) is a series of presidential nominating conventions held every four years since 1832 by the United States Democratic Party. They have been administered by the Democratic National Committee since the 1852 ...

in Boston, Massachusetts in 2004 and several full-scale exercises under the

Department of Homeland Security The United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is the U.S. federal executive department responsible for public security, roughly comparable to the interior or home ministries of other countries. Its stated missions involve anti-terr ...

. He has also served as a Field Commander at St. Louis Lambert International Airport. Experience and his numerous fortes, have landed Commissioner Jenkerson on a number of committees including the Mayor's Strategic Planning Committee for Mass Casualty Incidents, Continuing Review for the Washington University School of Medicine Human Studies Board, Standards and Practice review committee member for the Washington University Institutional Biological and Chemical Safety Board, the St. Louis Fire Department Disciplinary Review Board, inter-department research, development and procurement committees, St. Louis Fire Department Safety Committee and special operations committees under the St. Louis Area Regional Response System. Commissioner Jenkerson also serves as a technical advisor for a number of federal, state and local agencies including the United States Marine Corps, the Department of Homeland Security, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the National Fire Academy, United States Representative Russ Carnahan (Homeland Security/Terrorism Intervention), the University of Missouri, Department of Public Health, offices of the City of St. Louis, as a member of the St. Louis City Local Emergency Planning Committee and as an expert in hazardous materials and incident command for mutual aid partners in the St. Louis Metropolitan area. In a collaborative research effort, Commissioner Jenkerson's work has been published as "Decontamination of Non-Ambulatory Victims in a Simulated Chemical Contamination Scenario;" American Industrial Hygiene Conference; Chicago, IL (May 2006); and "Specialized Issues in Health Risk—Assessment of Decontamination Practices For A Simulated Contaminant Exposure In A Civilian Population;" American Industrial Hygiene Conference; Dallas, TX (May 2003) Motivated by a quest for knowledge and a desire to use that knowledge and experience to propel our nation's fire service into the future, Chief Jenkerson is a staunch supporter of employee development through education and training, and utilization of technology and innovation to continuously improve the department's level of service and assure that employees perform their work in the safest, most efficient manner. Commissioner Jenkerson serves on the following community boards as an advising member, The Salvation Army, American Red Cross, Mathews-Dickey Boys and Girls Club, St Louis Fire Department Lifesaving Foundation, Heat-Up and Cool Down St. Louis, and St.Louis BackStoppers.

References

Profile on St. Louis City website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jenkerson, Dennis Living people People from St. Louis University of Missouri faculty 1957 births