James G. Featherstone, a 20-year veteran of the Los Angeles (CA) Fire Department (LAFD), has been named the general manager for the city’s Emergency Preparedness Department. He will be responsible for developing and implementing innovative strategies to prepare the city for emergencies.
A native of Washington D.C. and a U.S. Navy veteran, Featherstone joined the LAFD in 1986, and has served as a department public information officer, an academy instructor, a chief officer’s staff assistant, a station commander, and a task force commander. He participated in the response to the 1992 Civil Disturbance, the 1993 Firestorm, and the 1994 Northridge Earthquake. In 2000, as a fire plans officer for the Democratic National Convention, he was instrumental in developing LAFD’s Operation and Tactical Plans for the event, during which he was assigned as the metro area command plans officer.
In 2004, he was transferred to the LAFD Tactical Training Section. As the section’s tactical training officer, he oversaw all WMD training, simulations, and exercises. Over three years, he developed and led numerous homeland security exercise and evaluation efforts in Greater Los Angeles.
In 2006, Featherstone was named the interim assistant general manager of the Emergency Preparedness Department and spearheaded the department’s reorganization.
An alumnus of the National Fire Academy, Featherstone completed the residence curriculum of incident management courses. He is an adjunct instructor at the National Emergency Response and Rescue Training Center at Texas A&M University.
Featherstone is a member of United Firefighters of Los Angeles City Local 112, where he served on the executive board as a negotiation team member for 19 years and as chief negotiator for five years. He is also a member
and past executive board member of the Stentorians of Los Angeles, which represents African-Americans in the fire service.
