Corey Smedley was sworn in as the 30th Alexandria Fire Chief at City Hall last night.
The 48-year-old Smedley, who is the city’s first permanent African American Fire Chief, took the oath of office Tuesday night in a packed house with his family, members of the Alexandria Fire Department and city leaders in attendance.
“There should be no ambiguity as the leader of the organization,” Smedley said. “I will help you succeed, I will help you lead or I will help you find the door.”
Mayor Justin Wilson said that Alexandria is a difficult community to serve.
“We expect a lot out of leaders in this community. We send them through the paces, we ask them as many questions as possible when we demand absolute excellence and they should expect nothing less than excellence,” Wilson said. “We are looking forward to great things. This is an exciting time for our fire department.”
Smedley was born in Washington D.C., raised in Maryland and lives in Chesapeake Beach, Md. He joined the department in 2015 as the deputy fire chief of emergency management and homeland security, after 20 years with the Prince George’s County Fire Department.
Smedley was named to Assistant Fire Chief of Administration last January, and was named the acting fire chief last summer after former Chief Robert Dubé unexpectedly announced his retirement.
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If you had a chance to enhance a child’s future with a time commitment of less than 2 hours a week, how would you respond? You have that opportunity right now to join over 200 Alexandrians as a reading tutor volunteer with the Alexandria Tutoring Consortium (ATC).
ATC tutors work with one child in kindergarten, first, or second grade in Alexandria public schools who need extra help with reading. Tutors meet with their Book Buddy 1-2 times each week for 30 minutes October-May at school, during school hours. Many struggling readers only receive one-on-one instruction through this program, and it makes all the difference. Last year, ATC served 195 children, of whom 82% ended the year reading on grade level and 96% made substantial reading gains. But the need is great, and we are still seeing learning lags from the pandemic.
This year, ATC plans to significantly increase the size of the program to reach over 250 students and to serve every elementary school in Alexandria. This is very exciting news, but we will only succeed if we can recruit more tutors. ATC trains you, matches you with a child, and provides ongoing lesson materials and support.
If you have been thinking about buying your first home or haven’t owned one in the last three years, THIS IS FOR YOU!
In the DMV area, it can be difficult to save the downpayment necessary for you to get into your own home. We have a solution. The Funder’s Summit!
We have assembled a summit with different municipalities to tell you how to access their funds for your home purchase.
2023 Alexandria Fall Festival
Food trucks, bounce houses, pony rides, magic shows and more at the 2023 Alexandria Fall Festival, an Alexandria Living event presented by The Patterson Group. Join us at River Farm on Sunday, Nov. 5 from 11 a.m. – 4 p.m.
