BRENT F. BURTON IS AN ENTREPRENEUR, MOTIVATIONAL SPEAKER, FIREFIGHTER, HUSBAND AND #1 FATHER.
Captain Brent F. Burton is a dynamic community advocate from the Los Angeles area having served as a civil servant in the Los Angeles County Fire Department for over 37 years. He is the founder and current director of the Junior Firefighter Youth Foundation, a non-profit community-based organization thatoperates within the Los Angeles County region that has served elementary and high school students interested in learning more about public service careers and opportunities.
Captain Burton chairs the Mentoring Committee of the 100 Black Men of Los Angeles, where he has managed the operations of the 100’s Mentor program for the past 10 years. He is a founding member and past President of the African American Firefighter Museum near downtown Los Angeles. He currently serves on the Museum’s Advisory Board and he is the current historian of the Museum. Burton is aformer board member and past President of the Stentorians of Los Angeles County, an advocacy focused organization representing African American fire service professionals that addresses the recruitment, retention and upward mobility of its membership as well as the diversity, equity and inclusion challenges that face the fire service. In addition to this, Captain Burton serves as the President and Chair of the Board of directors for the Los Angeles CARES Mentoring Movement, the local affiliate of the National CARES Mentoring Movement.
During his years of service with the Los Angeles County Fire Department, Captain Burton has worked in some of the Department’s most challenging assignments and he has served in a variety of leadership capacities including serving as a certified Paramedic, Community Emergency Response Team instructor, Training Officer, Safety Officer, Explorer post advisor, Rescue Youth Mentor, Recruitment Unit Captainand station commander. This long tenure of upward movement in one of the largest fire departments in the nation has allowed him to develop his expertise in personnel development, community collaborations and organizational development combined with his continued impact on youth leadership development through his mentoring roles in numerous capacities.
Captain Burton lectures on a variety of subjects including Disaster Preparedness, the history of African Americans in the Los Angeles community, African Americans in public safety in the Los Angeles area in general, and the fire service in particular. He has served as the keynote speaker at many Black history events and celebrations and he enjoys sharing his knowledge about this topic.
Captain Burton holds an Associates of Arts degree in general studies and a Bachelor of Science degree in Organizational Leadership. He is a credentialed Career Technical Education instructor serving at two Los Angeles area high schools and he is an adjunct instructor and board member at the Carl Holmes Executive Development Institute which is held annually on the campus of Dillard University, in New Orleans Louisiana. Captain Burton is also a member of the Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity Inc.
He is the proud father of 3 adult children, who have entered into the public service sector as a police officer, school psychologist and firefighter / paramedic respectfully, all in the Los Angeles region. Captain Burton resides in the Southern California region with his wife Toya Mack-Burton.