Associate
Fire Chief, City of Frisco, Texas
Mark I. Piland is the Fire Chief and Emergency Management Coordinator for the City of Frisco, Texas, one of the fastest growing cities in the United States. Previously, Piland served as the Fire Chief for Volusia County Fire Services in Volusia County, Florida and as Shift Commander in Operations for the Virginia Beach Fire Department in Virginia Beach, VA.
Chief Piland has over 35 years in the Fire-Rescue service, with experience encompassing the areas of Fire Administration, Fire Prevention, Fire Operations, Emergency Management and CERT, Training, Special Operations, Fire Accreditation, Fire Station and Training Facility Design, emergency response with local, state, and federal governments, and executive level management and budget. Strong expertise is in the areas of executive leadership and community disaster preparedness response and outreach programs.
Chief Piland has served with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) as a Task Force Leader with Virginia Task Force 2 (VATF-2) a FEMA Urban Search and Rescue Team as well as the East Coast Task Force Divisional Representative for the FEMA US&R System. Piland also served as a FEMA Working Group Member for Command and General Staff, and Incident Support Team Leader. Chief Piland served as The Plans Chief for the Pentagon incident during the 911 terrorism attack, and deployed as the Task Force Leader for VATF-2 (Type I 80 persons) for Hurricane Katrina (2005) New Orleans, and the Earthquake in Port Au Prince, Haiti, 2010.
Piland has served as a Principal Member on NFPA Technical Committee 1981 Standard on Open Circuit Self Contained Breathing Apparatus for seven years. Piland was recently selected to represent the International Association of Fire Chiefs (IAFC) at the NFPA Forum, a think tank of fire service leaders brought together to discuss and make recommendations for the protection of the fire service as well as the life and safety protection needs of society.
Piland possesses a Master of Public Health from Eastern Virginia Medical School, and a Bachelors of Psychology from Old Dominion University and is a graduate of the National Fire Academy’s Executive Fire Officer Program, The Executive Leaders Program at the Post Naval Graduate School, Center for Homeland Defense, and Senior Executives in State and Local Government from The Kennedy School at Harvard.