Published on September 13, 2022
The City of Maricopa is pleased to announce the appointment of Brad Pitassi as Chief of the Maricopa Fire/Medical Department. Chief Pitassi assumed the position in an interim role following the retirement of Chief Brady Leffler in March of this year. Chief Pitassi's appointment will take effect on October 3. “This is an incredible opportunity for me, and I am proud to serve the department, City staff, and most importantly the residents and our guests in the City as the Fire Chief. We have an outstanding membership in the department that is dedicated to providing outstanding service to the community that I look forward to supporting in my new role."- Chief Brad Pitassi, City of Maricopa Fire/Medical Department. Chief Pitassi began working in Maricopa in 2004 for the City's private ambulance company and has been a member of the City of Maricopa Fire/Medical Department since 2006. During his time with the department, he served as a firefighter/paramedic and the department’s first Public Information Officer before rising up the ranks to Fire Chief. Pitassi is a nationally recognized subject matter expert in complex incident management (fires, floods, hurricanes, earthquakes, large-scale special events, and man-made disasters). In 2011 he became a member of Southwest Area Type 1 Incident Management Team (IMT), one of only 16 federal interagency teams across the nation, working in the command staff managing some of the nation’s most dire disasters. He continues to teach complex Incident Management Team and Incident CommandSystem (ICS) classes all across the country to federal, state, and local agencies, including the FDNY. Chief Pitassi has a Bachelor of Science in Organizational Communications from Northeastern University in Boston, Massachusetts, and a Master of Public Policy and Administration from Northwestern University in Evanston,Illinois. He is a member of the Arizona Fire Chiefs Association, International Association of Fire Chiefs, and an Arizona Governor Doug Ducey appointee serving on the State of Arizona Department of Homeland Security Regional Advisory Committee (East). "As the City expands, I look forward to the coinciding growth of the department. We are an organization with a proud legacy of innovation and challenging the status quo. We also hold ourselves to a lifelong commitment of learning in order to provide the best outcomes to those that rely on our services. This is an exciting new chapter for the department, and I look forward to what our future holds.”- Chief Brad Pitassi, City of Maricopa Fire/Medical Department.