Former resident elected CEO of National Fire Heritage Center
The National Fire Heritage Center (NFHC) board of directors in Emmitsburg elected Chief William D. “Bill” Killen of Church Hill, Tenn., president and chief executive officer during the NFHC’s annual board of directors meeting Oct. 8, according to a news release.
Killen, a 1958 graduate of Lackey High School, succeeded Ronny J. Coleman of Elk Grove, Calif., former California State Fire Marshal and founding president of the National Fire Heritage Center. Killen, a member of the NFHC board of directors since 2009, previously served as interim president, vice president of operations, vice president for finance and chairman of the Hall of Legends, Legacies and Leaders Committee.
Killen is a 1993 graduate of University of Maryland University College. He began his career in 1956 at the Potomac Heights Volunteer Fire Department, and shortly after, in 1960, started his paid fire career as a GS-3 firefighter trainee at the Navy Propellant Plant (now Naval Surface Warfare Center, Indian Head division). He retired as director of the Navy Fire and Emergency Services in 2004.
Killen has served as fire chief at Holston Army Ammunition Plant; fire chief of Metropolitan Washington Airports in Alexandria, Va., and the Apollo Astronaut Rescue Team, Kennedy Space Center Fire Department in Florida. He served as president of the International Association of Fire Chiefs 2005-06, president of the International Association of Fire Chiefs Foundation 1998-2003 and vice president of The Institution of Fire Engineers, U.S. branch.
Killen, the recipient of numerous awards during his career, was awarded the Office of the Secretary of Defense Medal for Exceptional Public Service in 2006 and the Military Firefighter Heritage Foundation’s Lifetime Achievement Award in 2017. He was inducted into the Navy Fire and Emergency Services Hall of Fame in 2004 and the Department of Defense Fire Emergency Services Hall of Fame in 2013.