Mayor Wu names Boston's first Black fire chief

Boston Mayor Michelle Wu has appointed Rodney Marshall as the city’s next fire commissioner. He is the first Black fire chief in the department’s nearly 350-year history.

Marshall, 58, will replace Commissioner Paul Burke, who was appointed by Wu in 2022. He recently turned 65, the retirement age for the position.

At a ceremony announcing his appointment Thursday morning, the Dorchester native said his top priority is the health, safety, and wellness of firefighters.

"This job, it's all about teamwork. And it is that teamwork that makes everything possible,” he said. “It takes a team to assemble a 50-foot ladder and stand it up. It takes a team to stretch a two-and-a-half [inch] hose line down a hallway, and it's the strength of that team that makes the difference between life and death on this job,” he added, pausing with emotion as he described the dangers of the work.

Marshall, who joined the department in 1991 and currently serves as chief of operations, will become the city’s 45th commissioner when he’s sworn in later this month. Over the years, he’s been recognized by the department for saving the lives of several residents during a six-alarm fire. And in 2013, he earned a commendation for rescuing people on a bus, according to Wu’s office.

He would earn a nickname: The Ice Man. He explained to reporters, “ I'm usually cool under pressure.”

Marshall also worked with Burke to launch the fire department’s cadet program, which works to help young Bostonians start their careers as firefighters.

Burke described the incoming commissioner as having “unbelievable” instincts “when things got tough.” He also said, “It couldn’t be a better day.”

As Burke leaves the department after 36 years of service, he said he plans to sleep, travel and spend time with his grandchildren.

Wu, in her remarks, said she was proud to appoint “the most qualified and best person” to lead the department.

“ Rodney has earned a reputation as someone who earns trust, and that's the kind of leadership this department — the oldest and the best — deserves,” she said.

At the ceremony, held at the Boston Boys & Girls Club of Dorchester, Marshall was cheered by his wife, two young children and other supporters. One friend and fellow firefighter, Glendon King, said seeing the city appoint its first Black official to the job was “like a dream come true.”

The department has faced criticism in recent years over a lack of racial and gender diversity and sexual harassment.

Marshall said he will maintain a “no nonsense” policy for the department’s 1,500+ firefighters.

“We are going to make this a job that's equal for everyone: Men, women, people of color, whoever wants this job is going to have the opportunity to have it.”

Marshall also said he plans to make the department more accessible to the city’s kids.

“ I'm going to make sure that during the summer months, all these firehouse doors will be open,” he said. “I want city kids, kids from every neighborhood to be able to walk in, see the trucks, talk to the firefighters and experience the wonder and excitement of seeing this job up close.”

He said he hopes a young person who visits one of the city’s firehouses, from Roxbury and Dorchester to Brighton, “will be up on this stage one day, replacing me as fire commissioner.”

As a youth, growing up in the Grove Hall neighborhood of Dorchester, Marshall said he once wanted to work for the FBI. After graduating from Boston College with a degree in accounting, he said he planned to start his career at the Boston Police Department, then decided to take the Boston Fire Department’s civil service exam at the same time.

“ I was just hedging my bet with that,” he said. But after the exam, he received two offers from the Boston Fire Department.

“I turned the first one down and I turned the second one down,” he said. Today, he said, “You'd be crazy to do that. It would be like throwing the million dollar ticket out the window.”

Finally, when he heard he wouldn’t have to wear a suit and tie, Marshall said, he was “all in.”

“From not knowing what the job was all about, to making it to the top of the ranks,” he said, “that means the world.”