Chief Warner brings a wealth of community experience and connections with many long-time members of the fire and rescue community in Powhatan and the region. Coordinating the roles and responsibilities of a growing career staff with long-established volunteer organizations are keys to controlling costs and sustaining high quality emergency services. “I look forward to supporting Chief Warner in his new role where he has already demonstrated his leadership capabilities while serving as acting chief,” Voorhees added.
Chief Warner started serving Powhatan County as a volunteer fire fighter with Fine Creek Volunteer Fire Department (Company 4) in 1990 ultimately becoming the Company 4 Volunteer Fire Chief. In 2003, he assumed the position of Deputy Emergency Management Coordinator for Powhatan County, which led to serving as one of the two part-time Assistant Fire & Rescue Chiefs for the past 16 years working closely with the volunteer fire fighters as well as the career Firefighter/EMT's.
During his time volunteering with Powhatan, Chief Warner decided to make a career of firefighting and went to work for the Henrico County Division of Fire in 1996. Warner's career in Henrico included serving as a firefighter/medic for 7 years, and a lieutenant for 12 years before retiring as captain of the Planning Section in 2017. Chief Warner also chaired the Fire Apparatus Committee three times during 15 years as a member, and taught the three-week Driver/Pump Operator School for 10 recruit schools.
Chief Warner holds a Bachelor of Science Degree in Business Administration & Management from Virginia Commonwealth University. He is a 2017 graduate of the Virginia Fire Chief Officer Program, has completed additional coursework in Fire Science at J. Sargeant Reynolds Community College, and holds extensive specialized training certifications from the National Fire Academy, including Incident Command System, Incident Safety Officer, and Arson Detection training.
"I am honored to continue to serve the citizens of Powhatan County as the Fire & Rescue Chief," stated Chief Warner. “I look forward to continuing volunteer recruitment and retention, filling six newly approved career firefighter positions, exploring opportunities for additional collaboration between all public safety partners, and using data modeling to determine fire and rescue needs.”
Warner and his wife Austin live in District 4.
