JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — After almost thirty years with the Jacksonville Fire and Rescue Department, Fire Chief Keith Powers is closing a chapter and gearing up for what’s next. Powers has formally announced his retirement, bringing his 29-year career to a close, which includes six years as the department’s leading figure.

“The greatest honor of my life was representing them,” Powers said, as he reflected on his tenure overseeing nearly 2,000 members of the department. “They’re the ones who really do the work out there.”

Powers, 58, said his decision to retire came down to one thing: family.

“It was the right moment. The right moment for my family, the right moment for me, and time to introduce new, fresh ideas,” Powers remarked. “That’s extremely vital.”

While Powers is quick to deflect personal praise, he highlights the department’s accomplishments as a team, particularly the launch of the Mobile Stroke Unit.

“That is a game changer in this community,” he said. “I don’t think I’ve had a big accomplishment personally. I think we, as an organization, have had some big ones.”

Powers joined the department in 1996 and steadily rose through the ranks. He was named fire chief in 2019 under Mayor Lenny Curry. He also became the first fire chief in Jacksonville history since consolidation to serve under two mayors from different political parties –  Curry, a Republican, and current Mayor Donna Deegan, a Democrat.

“We’re blessed as a community to have mayors like that who really understand how important public safety is because if you don’t have a safe city, you don’t have a city, right? And both of them have been, have been very good to me and to this department,” he said.

Powers said he’s received other job offers but hasn’t yet made a decision on his next steps. Whatever he chooses, he says it will be something he loves doing, just like the career he’s leaving behind.

“I’ve loved every minute of this,” he said.

As for the future of JFRD, Powers says Jacksonville’s rapid growth will be one of the biggest challenges facing the next chief.

“Being able to have enough firefighters to keep the community safe, that’s expensive,” he said. “That requires a lot of money from the city’s budget and so trying to balance that is going to be a tough task for the new fire chief.”

He also had parting advice for the next chief: “If you make every decision based off what’s best for this and that’s the organization, the patch, versus what’s best for your name or somebody else’s name or some group of people’s names, you can lay your head down at night and rest easy knowing you’ve made the right decision.”

Powers’ legacy will live on in more ways than one. His son is currently an engineer at Fire Station One, continuing the family tradition of service.