Ken Prillaman was appointed fire chief for the City of Wichita Falls, TX, on July 15, 2019. He previously served as fire chief, fire marshal and emergency management director for the City of Brooklyn Park, MN.
He has two associate degrees in fire science and graduated Magna Cum Laude from Columbia Southern University, with a bachelor’s degree in fire administration with a fire investigation major. He is a nationally certified Fire Officer III, Fire Investigator, Fire Instructor II as well as an IAAI-Fire Investigation Technician and Evidence Collection Technician. He is a Minnesota Certified Emergency Management Director and a National Registry EMT. Prillaman has an excellent reputation as a command officer and teaches incident command in high-rise operations for the National Fire Academy. In 2019, he earned his credential as a Chief Fire Officer from the Center for Public Safety Excellence.
Prillaman has served in a variety of regional and state leadership including service as the deputy director in the Minneapolis MACS Emergency Operations Center for Super Bowl 52. He is a member of the North Texas All Hazard Incident Management Team and he serves on the weekend staff of the National Fallen Firefighter Memorial in Emmitsburg, MD. He wrote and published the Minnesota Ceremonies & Protocol Guidebook, heralded as the most comprehensive guide of its type in the fire service.
Ken is an accomplished public speaker and has presented at a variety of local, state and national meetings. He and his family have devoted free time to helping parents keep their kids safe on the internet. His presentation “Parents vs. Predators” has received national acclaim and has been developed into a made-for-television documentary that won a 2012 Telly Award.
He has recently written and published his first book, Leadership Lessons from the Fireground.
Ken and his wife, Debbie, reside in Wichita Falls.