Battalion Chief David Guynn has been promoted to Deputy Chief, effective January, 26, 2021.
Guynn is a City of Roanoke native, who became involved in Fire-EMS in 2004 as a volunteer for Back Creek Fire & Rescue in Roanoke County. During his time as a volunteer, he decided that he was interested in making emergency services into a career. He began working for the City of Roanoke in 2005 as a Telecommunicator Trainee in the E-911 Center, and then joined Roanoke Fire-EMS with Recruit Class #9 in 2007.
In 2010, he made the difficult decision to leave the department to return to school where he obtained his Bachelor of Science in Physics at Roanoke College and completed his Master of Science in Physics at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Guynn was hired in 2014 by Cree, Inc. in Durham, NC to manage their onsite emergency response programs, including a 150+ member collateral duty Hazardous Materials Team. Following, he was appointed as the University Fire Marshal at the University of North Carolina in 2015, responsible for fire code enforcement and fire investigations. He also managed the University’s hazardous materials team and participated in a joint Technical Rescue Team with the Chapel Hill Fire Department.
David rejoined the Roanoke Fire-EMS department in 2018 as the Fire Marshal for the City of Roanoke. He is currently enrolled in the National Fire Academy’s Executive Fire Officer Program, and held designations as a Certified Emergency Manager, Certified Fire Marshal, Certified Fire and Explosion Investigator, and recently received the Chief Fire Officer designation, becoming the department’s fourth designee.
