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Michael T. Reilly

Battalion Chief

Fairfax County Fire & Rescue Department, Hazardous Materials and Fire Investigations Section

Michael T. Reilly is a 31-year veteran of the Fire Service. The last 29 years he has been with the Fairfax County Fire & Rescue Department, which has 1400 career and 230 volunteer members. The department responds to an average of 100,000 calls annually and protects 406 square miles. Chief Reilly is the Virginia State Governor’s appointed representative to the Virginia Fire Services Board representing the International Assoc. of Arson Investigators, Va. Chapter. Currently, Mr. Reilly is a Battalion Chief in the Hazardous Materials and Fire Investigations Section. This includes arson, bombings, explosives, environmental crimes, Local Emergency Planning Committee along with the Haz-Mat Technical Support, and Fire Investigations Branch of the Fire Marshal’s office. Prior to this, Battalion Chief Reilly was a Field Battalion Chief in charge of the daily operations of seven stations. He was the Fire Station Captain, in charge of a Technical Rescue Specialty Station and was the Executive Officer of the Departments Honor Guard & Ceremonial Unit. He is certified in Emergency Medical Services and has been a certified Paramedic since 1981. He is the past Director of the Life Safety Education Section, which coordinates all public information and media releases, as well as, all the Fire & Rescue Departments Life Safety Education Programs.

Chief Reilly is a Safety Officer with the Departments FEMA/OFDA sponsored U.S. Urban Search And Rescue Team and the Departments Critical Incident Stress Management Team (CISM), He took part in the 1988 Soviet Armenia earthquake, the 1990 Philippine earthquake, the 1992 Hurricane Andrew, the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing missions, the 1996 Centennial Olympics, and the most recently was the mission safety officer for the 1998 bombing of the U.S. Embassy in Nairobi, Kenya, and the earthquakes which occurred in Turkey and Taiwan in 1999. More recently Chief Reilly was involved in the rescue response to the Pentagon after the recent terrorist attack. Following that he was called into active duty as a special agent with the Coast Guard Investigative Service providing protection to the Commandant.

Chief Reilly has been the lead instructor with organizations including the U.S. State Department, FEMA's Disaster Strike Team the Mobile Emergency Response Support Teams (MERS); The Royal Saudi Military Police Academy in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia; the Kuwaiti Oil Company in Kuwait City; the Louisiana State Fireman's Convention; The Tennessee Rescue Squad Management Seminar, The Tennessee Fire Chiefs Assoc. Convention and the National Association of Counties Convention (NACO). He was also the keynote speaker at the Ohio State Fireman's Association in 1994. Mr. Reilly has recently assisted the International Association of Fire Chiefs with The First Worldwide Conference on Strengthening the Fire and Emergency Response to Terrorism held at FEMA's Mt. Weather Emergency Assistance Center. Presentations from seven different countries as well as numerous Federal Agencies were conducted. In addition Chief Reilly consults with area medical institutions conducting disaster management training seminars and emergency response to such events as mass casualty incidents, fires, chemical emergencies, physical violence in the work place and evacuations.

Mr. Reilly is a graduate of the Fairfax County Criminal Justice Academy and is sworn both as a Fire Marshal and a federal agent assigned to the Washington Field Office as a U.S. Special Agent for the United States Coast Guard Reserves. His duties include arson investigations, criminal investigations, and background security checks for the issuance of clearances and dignitary protection details for the United States Department of Homeland Security and the U.S. Coast Guard. He holds the rank of Chief Warrant Officer in the USCG-Active Reserves with 20 years experience.

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