Geoff Miller retired on December 23, 2009 from Metro Fire as the Deputy Chief of Operations, after 35 years in the fire service.  He started his fire service career in May of 1974 as a Resident Firefighter for the Citrus Heights Fire District.  He was made a full time firefighter in March of 1977 and promoted to Captain in January of 1979.  In 1987 he was promoted to Division Chief in charge of the Training Division.

In July of 1989 the Citrus Heights Fire District merged with the Rancho Cordova Fire District to become the Sacramento County Fire Protection District.  Geoff was promoted to Battalion Chief at the time of the merger.  In April of 1992 he was promoted to Assistant Chief.  He held this position until 1998 when he requested a reassignment to Battalion Chief due to the Assistant Chief’s job being too administrative with not enough fire ground or emergency scene responsibilities.  In 2000, the Sacramento County Fire Protection District and the American River Fire District merged to form the Sacramento Metropolitan Fire District. Geoff was assigned as a Battalion Chief until he was promoted in February of 2006 back to Assistant Chief.  He was promoted to Deputy Chief in January of 2007.

Geoff has been involved from the beginning in various roles of Sacramento Urban Search and Rescue Task Force 7, where he currently is a Task Force Leader and Plans Manager.  He is also involved with FEMA’s Blue Incident Support Team (IST).  He responded with FEMA’s Red Incident Support Team to the Pentagon Incident on 9/11/01 and was reassigned to the World Trade Center in New York City on 9/23/01.

He has also responded to the Salt Lake City Olympics in 2002, Columbia Shuttle Disaster in 2003, and in 2004 was deployed to the Democratic and Republican National Conventions and also spent 20 days in Florida on Hurricanes Frances and Ivan. During the 2005 hurricane season he responded to Hurricanes Dennis, Rita and Wilma.  He also responded to Hurricane Ike in 2008 and the floods in North Dakota in 2009.  He is currently a Liaison Officer assigned to the Blue IST where he was previously assigned as the Deputy Leader. Geoff currently teaches Urban Search and Rescue Incident Planning all over the country for FEMA.

Geoff was also a member of California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CAL FIRE) Type 1 Incident Command Team 3 as a Plans Section Chief until 2009 and has had many deployments.  His most exciting assignment with CAL FIRE was during 2003 at the 280,000-acre Cedar Fire in San Diego as Deputy Plans Section Chief.  This fire is the second largest wildland fire in the history of California.

Geoff is a contributing author to Delmar Publishing’s Firefighters Handbook, writing the chapters on Salvage and Overhaul and Fire Cause and Origin Determination.  He was on the re-write committee for the International Fire Service Training Association’s (IFSTA) book entitled “Company Officer” and was also on the re-write committee for the State Fire Marshal’s Fire Command 1A & 1B curriculum.  Geoff has a Bachelor’s Degree in Public Administration from the University of San Francisco, along with an Associate of Science Degree in Fire Science from American River College.

Geoff is happily married to his high school sweetheart Sue. They have been married for over 34 years and together for over 40 years.