Chief T. John Cunningham has over twenty-five years’ experience in the public safety sector. He is presently the Fire Chief and Emergency Management Director for the City of Brooklyn Park , the fourth largest city in the metropolitan area and the sixth-largest city in Minnesota. The fire department is a progressive, full-service emergency response and public safety agency handling over 8,200 incidents annually. The fire department has 48 sworn and 1 non-sworn full-time employees, and 4 part-time employees.
Prior to joining the Brooklyn Park Fire Department in 2018, Chief Cunningham was the Fire Chief and Emergency Management Director for the City of Elk River, Minnesota .
In October 2021, Chief Cunningham was re-elected to a third term as the President of the Minnesota State Fire Chiefs Association , a professional non-profit organization representing 1,500+ fire officers from across the state. He has also served as a board member of the Statewide Emergency Communications Board . He is actively involved with the Minnesota Fire Service Foundation , having served as the honor guard commander at the Minnesota Fallen Firefighters Memorial Service.