Reginald Freeman

About Reginald

• I was born in Shreveport, Louisiana, but moved every three years because my father was in the Air Force.
• I was an all American athlete in high school and college but unfortunately got injured during my freshman year of college.
• I was originally interested in becoming a DEA agent but knew that the educational experience required wasn’t a great fit for me.
• I decided to join the fire service, which is not only the ultimate team sport, but also has the paramilitary style I knew and appreciated.
• A mentor had recommended me to a jurisdiction off the Gulf Coast of Mississippi that was looking to diversify the organization—I was hired as the first African American Firefighter EMT for the city.
• I was determined to ultimately become the fire chief, so I put myself through all of the technician courses possible and then went on to earn my bachelor’s and master’s degrees.
• All of my work propelled me to climb the ranks at an extraordinarily fast rate—I was only in the fire service for about five years before I became a chief officer.
• I went to Iraq as a civilian fire chief for the Department of Defense, served as fire chief for Lockheed Martin, then fire chief for Hartford, Connecticut, before landing in Oakland, California.