On June 22, Fire Chief Dennis Jenkerson of the St. Louis Fire Department selected Derrick Phillips to the rank of Fire Deputy Chief. In his new position, Deputy Chief Phillips will oversee operations as the Administrative Chief & Operations Deputy Chief for the A-Shift and coordinate the activities of battalions and captains of the fire department.
Phillips will work closely alongside Jenkerson in planning and setting department goals, conducting proper training, establishing procedures, and serving as a liaison between the district, departments, committees, and other outside agencies.
Previously, Phillips served as a Battalion Chief over Training & Homeland Security. He also served as a Chief Fire & Explosion Investigator and Fire Captain, totaling over 26 years of experience with the St. Louis Fire department.
Deputy Chief Phillips holds a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration and Management at Columbia College and completed two master’s degrees last year – one in Homeland Defense & Security at Naval Postgraduate School, and another in Public Administration at Arkansas State University.
Phillips is also an HSToday Mission awardee, having won two awards in 2018 and 2020 for his thesis study which developed the First Responder Joint Intelligence guide. This established a comprehensive list of intelligence requirements for the fire department in ensuring timely, relevant, and specific intelligence pertinent to effective strategic planning, operational coordination, and tactical decision-making. You can learn more at our previous HSToday webinar where we had the honor to host Derrick Phillip’s brief on the critical fire service intelligence processes.
With his many accomplishments and major contributions to the fire department as well as to the homeland security community, Derrick Phillips is proudly welcomed as Fire Deputy Chief for the St. Louis fire department.
