Patrick Butler
Patrick Butler is an Assistant Chief of the Los Angeles Fire Department. He is the regional platoon commander for Operations Valley Bureau; overseeing and coordinating all fire department field operations that encompass the greater San Fernando Valley, West Los Angeles, Hollywood and Northeast L.A. Accountable to his command are 7 Battalion Chiefs and all subordinate personnel on duty at 54 neighborhood fire stations, serving a population of 2.3 million residents.
During his distinguished career, he has responded to thousands of emergencies, including the 1992 Civil Disturbance, 1994 Northridge Earthquake, 2008 Metrolink train crash, 2011 Hollywood Arson siege, and some of the state’s largest wildfires. He has been an incident commander on several large complex incidents and serves as the Incident Commander of the Department’s Incident Management Team.
Chief Butler holds a doctorate degree from the University of Southern California Price School of Public Policy, a master’s degree in Security Studies and Homeland Defense from the United States Naval Postgraduate School, a bachelor’s degree in Management and a graduate of the West Point Leadership Program. He is a Harvard Fellow, and studied as a Senior Executive Fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government. He has lectured on government performance metrics at the UCLA Anderson School of Management and the USC Sol Price School of Public Policy, where he teaches how to execute strategy and bridge technology, innovation, and practical application. He is an adjunct at the Naval Postgraduate School Center for Homeland Defense.
A student of leadership, he has traveled throughout Latin America and recently the Middle East and has done extensive research on organizational leadership, generational differences in the workforce and succession planning in government.
Patrick is active in several community organizations and serves on the Board of Directors of the San Fernando Valley Community Mental Health Center as well as Vision to Learn, a non-profit that provides free eye exams and glasses to elementary school students in low-income communities. He and his wife Jeanie also co-chair the advisory board of the Westchester Family YMCA. Born the son of a Mexican immigrant, Patrick speaks fluent Spanish and spent much of his youth growing up in his mother’s hometown of Veracruz, Mexico. He and his family live in Los Angeles and enjoy community activities. Patrick is an avid triathlete and trains with the LA Fire Tri Club.
