By 
November 18, 2025
226 square miles. Nearly 250,000 residents. 20 fire stations.
At Huntsville Fire & Rescue (HFR), district chiefs play a vital role in leading operations and ensuring every station– charged with covering those many miles that make up the Rocket City– is equipped to respond effectively when the call arrives.
One of those leaders is District Chief Scott Shelton, who oversees HFR Stations 6, 7, 9, 14 and 19 in the city’s south district on first shift. It’s his responsibility to assign tasks and provide oversight for personnel assigned to those stations as they work to complete their assignments.
Huntsville is divided into 4 fire districts, and each district has district chiefs supervising their stations.
For Shelton, he arrives at Station 9 in Jones Valley a little earlier than the rest of the crew on first shift to check in with the district chief being relieved. Call it a passing of the leadership baton from one 24-hour shift to the next.
Throughout nearly 25 years in the fire service, Shelton has been assigned to stations in all directions of Huntsville. Climbing the ranks from firefighter to driver engineer to captain and then district chief, his experience has built a perspective and understanding of the calls and needs amongst the different areas of the city.
From left: Firefighter Matt Choate, Captain Jon Cummings, District Chief Scott Shelton, Firefighter Matthew Towry and Driver Engineer Clint McGee
Shelton reviews the assigned schedules for his stations, ensuring there are no gaps in staffing and that each station’s captain is aware of any changes.
“Because of the quality of people that we have working at HFR, it’s about putting the right people in the right spots to get the job done effectively and safely,” said Shelton.
When the alarm sounds for a structural fire, a district chief arrives on scene to set up incident command for the responding companies and typically collaborating with the assisting district chief’s companies.
The district chief serves as the play caller on a fire scene. While station captains oversee a single crew in a single truck, district chiefs manage the entire scene.
“When we show up on a fire, the district chief running incident command means he’s instructing crews on where to go and how to execute the job,” said Station 9 Capt. Jon Cummings, one of several captains within Shelton’s district. “Captains will report status updates to their district chief periodically and receive further orders of instruction based on new information received.”
HFR personnel serve with the goal to be there for someone on their worst day. While that is heavy weight to carry through a shift, let alone a long-term career, Shelton has found it’s the crew working together in the face of these adversities that make it worthwhile.
The tense moments on a scene remind Shelton exactly why he pursued this role.
“I try to treat the job with the reverence it deserves,” said Shelton. “The captains that I have, watching them lead their crews and seeing them all perform the job that they train endlessly for is what makes it fulfilling for me.”
