SALEM, Va. – After serving for 10 years as the Chief of Salem Fire & EMS, John Prillaman has announced he will be retiring.
“It has been an incredible honor to work for the City of Salem and serve with a group of professionals who are dedicated to serving our citizens. I have been proud to be called a firefighter for more than 35 years and have been privileged to serve with the very best at every level.”
John Prillaman
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51-year-old Prillaman has been serving in the department since 1998, and was promoted to Senior Firefighter in 2001. Throughout the decade, he attained the rank of Lieutenant and Training Officer, was named a Captain, and then became Deputy Fire Chief in May of 2010. In 2015, he officially replaced retiring Chief Pat Counts as Salem’s Fire Chief.
Prior to serving in Salem, Prillaman was a Volunteer Firefighter in Roanoke County for 11 years, and he eventually attained the rank of Fire Chief of Back Creek Fire & Rescue. He was also a Fire Protection Specialist in the U.S. Air Force from 1991-1995, where he received several medals and graduated with honors from the Fire Academy at Chanute Air Force Base in Illinois.
“In the short time I have known Chief Prillaman I have observed not only his love of the city, but his strong desire to maintain a well-qualified and reliable work force. It is clear that he wants his co-workers to value Salem as much as he does, and his leadership will be missed.”
Chris Dorsey, Salem City Manager.
Prillaman also earned his bachelor’s degree in Fire Administration as an honors graduate of Hampton University in 2004, and in 2007, he earned a master’s degree in public administration from Virginia Tech. He also graduated from the National Fire Academy’s Executive Fire Officer School in 2014.
He also served as the president of the Virginia Fire Chiefs Association Board of Directors from 2022-2023. He continues to serve on the Board of Directors for the Virginia Fire Service Council, the Virginia Statewide Interoperability Committee, and the Virginia Public Safety Memorial Foundation to this day.
“I would also like to thank our retired City Manager, Forest Jones, who made a huge impression on me as a young lieutenant and taught me about the ‘Salem Way’ of treating co-workers and the public in general. I hope I was able to live up to the standards all these gentlemen set for me, and I trust that the next leader will take the department to even greater heights.”
John Prillaman
While Prillaman was Chief, he was instrumental in the creation of the Roanoke Valley Regional Fire Training Tower, as well as the installation of the 9/11 Memorial in front of Fire Station #1 in Salem.
Under Prillaman’s leadership, the department has changed its rank structure, upgraded its radio equipment and department logo, changed its front-line apparatus, established of a PEER Support Team and Chaplain program, upgraded software applications, and implemented a new standardized Incident Command System.
Prillaman thanked his team, and said nothing would be possible without them.
The current Salem City Manager, Chris Dorsey, will begin the process of hiring a new Chief immediately.