Staffordshire Commissioner Ben Adams today (9 February) confirmed the appointment of Glynn Luznyj as Staffordshire Fire & Rescue Service’s new Chief Fire Officer, after the decision was ratified at a meeting of the Police, Fire & Crime Panel.
Currently the Service’s Deputy Chief Fire Officer, Glynn was chosen in a rigorous and robust recruitment process involving representatives from His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services, the National Fire Chiefs Council and the Fire Brigades Union. He will take up the role after Chief Fire Officer Rob Barber’s retirement later this year.
Glynn has spent his whole career at Staffordshire Fire & Rescue Service, starting as a trainee firefighter in 1996, with his first station posting at Newcastle Fire Station.
Over the next two decades, he progressed through the ranks working at stations across the county and in teams at the Service’s headquarters, before joining the Principal Management Team in 2015. He was appointed Deputy Chief Fire Officer in 2021.
Glynn has held national roles including the National Fire Chiefs Council lead on smoke detection and Secretary of the Fire Leaders Association. He also spent seven years working at a national level on themes including Fire and Health partnerships.
In Staffordshire, he was responsible for introducing the Community Sprinkler Project, a partnership initiative which has seen 19 high-rise residential buildings fitted with sprinklers to protect residents and responding firefighters from the risk of fire.
In recent years, he has also supported the Service’s response to the conflict in Ukraine by organising convoys of old appliances and equipment to go to Ukraine.
In 2024 he was recognised in His Majesty the King’s New Year’s Honours List, receiving the King’s Fire Service Medal for distinguished service to the Fire & Rescue sector.
Staffordshire Commissioner for Police, Fire & Rescue and Crime, Ben Adams, said: “I am grateful to the Police, Fire and Crime Panel for their deliberations today and am delighted to have Glynn’s appointment confirmed.
“Glynn brings a wealth of operational and strategic experience across all areas of Staffordshire Fire & Rescue. I’m confident he has the knowledge and expertise needed to lead the Service through its continued modernisation, building on Staffordshire’s reputation while also addressing the challenges facing the sector nationally.
“I’d like to thank the current Chief Fire Officer, Rob Barber, for all his hard work and leadership in shaping the Service for the future, which saw it graded Outstanding by His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services for its response to major and multi-agency incidents.”
Chief Fire Officer, Rob Barber said: “I’m delighted that Glynn has been appointed as my successor. I have every confidence in his ability to lead our organisation. His honesty, integrity and commitment to the Service is clear to see by everybody that works with him.
“He has been serving the communities of Staffordshire since starting his career as a firefighter at Newcastle under Lyme. So, it will be a great honour for him to now become Chief of the organisation that he first joined 30 years ago.”
Watch the Police, Fire & Crime Panel meeting in full here: Staffordshire Police, Fire and Crime Panel meeting
