Stafford City council officially named Jose Magana as the new Fire Chief of the Stafford Fire Department during a City Council meeting on Sept. 17.
Chief Magana has served as Interim Fire Chief since the start of September and now takes on the role permanently, bringing several years of experience and service in Stafford to the community.
“It’s humbling and it is an honor to be named Fire Chief,” Magana said. “It was an overwhelming and proud moment. I am excited and happy to get to work and make this department an even better place.”
Along with his duties as Fire Chief, Magana will also serve as Stafford’s Emergency Management Coordinator. Magana was here and helped Stafford through Hurricane Harvey, the COVID-19 Pandemic and the Valentine’s Week Freeze of 2021.
“I’ve grown so much on the Emergency Management side through these nine years. We’ve dealt with some crazy situations and all of us had to learn on the fly and work with other agencies. Going through those three very different types of emergency events and having worked the operational side of it, it made me develop in a way I couldn’t have otherwise.”
Magana has nearly two decades of experience as a fire fighter and has been with the Stafford Fire department for over a decade Magana started his career at the City of Richmond in 2007, joining Stafford part time in 2014 before being hired full time in 2016 as a Training Captain.
From there, Magana rose through the ranks. He became a Battalion Chief of Operations in 2019 before ascending to Division Chief of Operations in 2022. He was named Stafford’s Assistant Fire Chief in January of this year and served as Interim Fire Chief after Larry Di Camillo’s retirement at the end of August.
During his time at the city, the Stafford Fire Department achieved a Class 1 ISO rating, which is held by fewer than 1% of all fire departments nationwide. He hopes to continue to build on the strong foundation laid by his predecessor.
“To the people of Stafford, I hope to bring you honor,” Magana said. “I want to be a person that is respectable, has integrity and will always try and do right, not just by my words, but by my actions. My goal and what I hope is that as a community, you never have to doubt my words, because my actions will prove my intentions.”
