AL Fire Chief to Retire at End of Month

Mobile Fire Chief Paul Mark Sealy, whose appointment in 2017 ended a four-year political standoff over Mobile Fire-Rescue Department leadership and who led the MFRD to a top-tier industry rating, has announced plans to retire.

According to information released by the MFRD, Sealy will retire from the city at the end of August after 29 years. He entered city service in 1991 as a fire medic. He was the MFRD’s training chief when his appointment to the department’s top position by Mayor Sandy Stimpson was confirmed in 2017.

Stimpson first took office in 2013, and following the resignation of Steve Dean, he nominated deputy Chief Paul “Randy” Smith to lead the department. But the nomination never got a council endorsement and the upshot was that Assistant Chief Billy Pappas served as acting chief from 2014 into 2017. Smith went on to become chief of the Tuscaloosa Fire and Rescue Service in 2018.

After Sealy became chief, Stimpson set a goal for the MFRD to earn a top-tier ISO 1 rating from an industry advisory organization. When the department earned ISO 1 status in November 2018, Stimpson said it meant “that the service that you will get from Mobile Fire Rescue, you can be assured that the men and women are better trained, they’re better equipped and their response time will be better.”

Other accomplishments during Sealy’s term included a departmental restructuring, the addition of 22 new firefighter positions and improved health screenings and mental health support for firefighters.

The MFRD announcement said that Sealy had told MFRD personnel “I fully trust that the City administration will select a Chief that will continue to strive to improve the Department. I ask that you continue to dedicate yourselves to the mission of MFRD and to each other.”

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