The District of Columbia Fire Department was organized on September 23, 1871 the department became fully paid and the name changed to the District of Columbia Fire Department from Washington DC Fire Deoartment. 

As a result of the Department becoming a fully paid department Martn Cronin was appointed the first fire chief of the department.

The chief of the Department is appointed by the mayor of the city.

                                               PAST FIRE CHIEFS 

Martin Cronin	Joseph Parris	Robert Dutton
1871 - 1886	1896 - 1901	1901 - 1903

William Belt	Frank Wanger	George Watson
1903 - 1908	1908 - 1920	1920 - 1934

Charles Schrom	Stephen Porter	Clement Murphy
1934 - 1939	1939 - 1946	1946 - 1949

Joseph Mayhew	Millard Sutton	Raymond Roberts
1949 - 1952	1952 - 1962	1962 - 1964

Henry Galotta	Hugh Groves	Joseph Mattare
1964 - 1968	1968 - 1971	1971 - 1973

Buton Johnson	Jefferson Lewis	Norman Richardson
1973 - 1978	1978 - 1979	1980 - 1982

Theodore Coleman	Rayfield Alfred	Otis Latin
1983 - 1988	1988 - 1993	1993 - 1997

Donald Edwards	Ronnie Few	Adrian Thompson
1997- 1999	2000- 2002	2002- 2008