Humberto J. Quintela is a Chief Fire Officer with Miami-Dade Fire Rescue (MDFR) and has been on the department for 17 years. He has worked most of his career in the Operations Division as a Firefighter, Lieutenant and Captain. He also worked 2 years as an Operations Training Captain in the Training and Safety Division. He achieved the rank of Chief Fire Officer in 2015 and worked as an Operations Battalion Chief. In 2016, he became the department Chief of Safety. He is the chair of the MDFR Health and Safety Committee, a member of the Crash Review Panel and a member of the Florida Firefighters Health and Safety Collaborative (FFSHC).
Chief Quintela has a BS in Education from Florida International University, as well as an Emergency Medical Services (EMS) Degree from Miami-Dade College. He is a Fire Officer III, Instructor III, a State of Florida Live Fire Instructor and State of Florida certified Safety Officer. He is also a Hazardous Materials Technician, Public Safety Diver and Airport Rescue Firefighter.
For over 3 years Chief Quintela has been working on firefighter cancer prevention initiatives and was one of the 12 original FFSHC State F.A.C.E. team members when the team formed in November of 2016.
MDFR is currently doing a post fire hood swap and decontamination wipe program as well as the shower within the hour post fire initiative. In the near future MDFR will begin their post fire gross decontamination initiative which will include a personal protective equipment swap for its personnel. Currently MDFR has 2 clean cab fire trucks and 50 clean cab rescue trucks and will be replacing more of the fleet soon with clean cab apparatus. Being involved in the Health and Safety Collaborative has helped with the development and implementation of many of these initiatives.
Chief Quintela’s work is driven by the goal of not only ensuring his personnel go home safe after every shift but they are able to enjoy health and well-being at least 10, 20, 30 years after retiring from the fire service.