Rocky Garzarek is the fire chief in Franklin, TN. He began his 40-plus year fire service career with the Rocky Ridge and Center Point fire departments in Alabama. He joined the Hoover, AL, Fire Department in 1977 and advanced through the ranks before retiring as director of training and safety in 2001. Garzarek became deputy chief of operations with the Round Rock, TX, Fire Department in 2001 and served as interim fire chief before accepting the fire chief's position in Franklin in 2004. Under Garzarek's leadership, Franklin has improved their fire protection rating and became an ISO Class 1 agency in 2015 and improved the department’s EMS minimum level of care to ALS.
He is the past president of the International Association of Fire Chiefs' Southeastern Association of Fire Chiefs (SEAFC) and also served the SEAFC Tennessee State Director. Garzarek is a peer assessor for the Commission on Fire Accreditation International, is active on the Tennessee Fire Chiefs Legislative Committee, and was a contributing author/reviewer of the 2004 International Fire Service Training Association Chief Officer manual.
He has a B.S. in Public Administration from Athens State University in Athens, AL, and an A.A.S. in Fire Science from Jefferson State Community College in Birmingham, AL. He is also a graduate of the University of Virginia’s Weldon Cooper Center for Public Service LEAD (Leading, Educating and Developing) program.