BRENT F. BURTON IS AN ENTREPRENEUR, MOTIVATIONAL SPEAKER, FIREFIGHTER, HUSBAND AND #1 FATHER.
Captain Brent F. Burton is a dynamic educator, historian, youth mentor, and advocate from Los Angeles, CA, having served 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 operating in Los Angeles County, serving elementary and high school students interested in public service careers and opportunities.
Captain Burton serves as the senior advisor to the Mentoring Committee of the 100 Black Men of Los Angeles. He served as Mentoring Committee Chairman for over 15 years, managing the operations of the 100’s “See Your Future” Male Mentoring program. 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 as the historian of Los Angeles’ pioneering African American firefighters.
Burton is a former 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. In addition, 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 communities, and he has served in a variety of leadership capacities. Some of his assignments have included serving as a certified Paramedic, Community Emergency Response Team instructor, Training Officer, Safety Officer, Explorer post advisor, Rescue Youth Mentor, Recruitment Unit supervisor, chief officer adjutant, and fire station commander. This long tenure of upward movement in one of the largest fire departments in the nation has allowed him to enhance his expertise in personnel development, community collaborations, and organizational growth, 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 Associate 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 Carlsbad-Laguna-Temecula Alumni Chapter of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc., where he serves as the chair of the Guide Right Committee.
He is the proud father of three adult children, who have entered the public service sector as a police officer, school psychologist, and firefighter/paramedic, respectively, all in the Los Angeles region. Captain Burton resides in the Southern California region with his wife, Toya Mack-Burton.