Jake Heflin is a Fire Captain for the City of Long Beach Fire Department in California. He is currently assigned to the Community Services Division and serves as the Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) Program Manager and Public Information Officer (PIO) for the Fire Department. Jake has been with the Long Beach Fire Department for over 24 years and has been involved in emergency services for over 33 years.

Previously, Jake served as a member on California Urban Search and Rescue Regional Task Force #3, where he served as a Medical Specialist. He also served as the LBFD Paramedic Committee Chair and was a Director for the Long Beach Fireman’s Mutual Benefit Association for approximately 18 years. He was previously a member of the LBFD Honor Guard and served the California State Firefighters Association (CSFA) as the EMS Committee Chair and the Chair of the CSFA Tribal Committee. He also sat as a member of the California State EMSA Directors Advisory Group. In addition, Jake has been a Paramedic Preceptor for Los Angeles County and has served as a skills and peer instructor for fire and EMS related training for over 29 years. In 2006, Jake was awarded the “Member of the Year” for the California State Firefighters Association. In 2017, Jake was honored as the “Sworn Employee of the Year” for the Long Beach Fire Department. In 2018, Jake and members of the City of Long Beach communications team received a California Association of Public Information Officer Award for the production of “Virtual Ride-a-Long” and a STAR Award “For Every 15 Minutes” in Government Programing with Long Beach TV.

Currently, Jake is the First Vice-President for Friends of Long Beach Firefighters, a non-profit organization supporting community outreach in the City of Long Beach. In addition, he serves as the CERT Program Manager for Long Beach where he oversees community preparedness activities for the fire department. Under his leadership, the Long Beach CERT program was nationally recognized and awarded the 2017 FEMA Individual and Community Preparedness Award for their efforts with “READY Long Beach”, a community preparedness initiative targeted at increasing a “whole community” approach to building capacity, preparedness, and resiliency.

Jake holds a California State Teaching Credential and has a Bachelor of Science in Occupational Studies from California State University, Long Beach. In addition, Jake holds an Associate of Science in Fire Administration, an Associate of Science in Fire Technology Medical Services Officer, and an Associate of Science in Public Fire Service from Santa Ana College and an Associate of Science in Paramedicine from Saddleback College.