Career Staff
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Career Staff
Christiana hired its first two full-time Firefighter/EMTs in 1994 to offset daily Fire/EMS staffing. Over the past 30 years we have gradually increased our career staff to 36 full-time employees.
In 2004 Christiana Career Staff started the first I.A.F.F. Union Local in Delaware for combination department firefighters, which has grown to over 150 members throughout New Castle County, also followed suite in Kent and Sussex Counties with their own locals.
CFC was the first combination department in the state to promote career employees into the officer ranks in 2012 with our first Career Assistant Chief, followed by our first Career Lieutenants in 2015.
In 2026 it was determined that it was unrealistic to expect our volunteer Fire Chief to manage the busiest station in the State of Delaware and one of the busiest in the northeast region on his own time. The company then decided to hire our Chief full time, making him the first Career Fire Chief for CFC.
Our career staff work seamlessly alongside of our volunteer officers and members to ensure we have a minimum of 1 Duty Chief, 1 Engine, 1 Ladder, and 3 BLS units staffed 24/7, 365.
Christiana strives to be the example of a successful combination system for our state and nation.
We currently employ:
1 Career Fire Chief, 1 Career Assistant Chief, 4 Career Captains, 16 Career Firefighters, 12 Career NREMTs, 1 Career Administrator and 1 Career Mechanic. CFC also employs over 50 part-time EMTs for BLS staffing.
Our Career Fire/EMS staff work a 4 Platoon rotation of 24hrs on and 72 hrs off. Each shift has 1 Capt.(Shift Commander), with 4 Firefighter/EMTs & 3 BLS EMTs.
Matthew Read
Matt was hired by Christiana as a career FF/EMT in August of 2016. In 2023 Matt was promoted to Lieutenant, in 2026 promoted to Captain and currently assigned to D-Platoon. Prior to coming to Christiana, matt was a Career FF/EMT for the Blades Vol. Fire company and the Camden-Wyoming Fire Company.
In 2008, Matt joined the Seaford Volunteer Fire Department where he has held the positions of Captain, Assistant Chief, Deputy Chief, President and is currently serving as the Fire Chief.
Matt also works as an instructor for the Delaware State Fire School, teaching firefigher I and II, RIT, and firefighter self survival.
Matt holds the certifications of Pro Board Firefighter I, Firefighter II, Fire Officer I, Fire Officer II, Fire Officer III, Fire Instructor I, Fire Instructor II, Live Fire Instructor, Incident Safety Officer, Swiftwater Rescue Tech, Rope Rescue Operations, and Hazardous Materials Operations.
Matt has been awarded 3 unit citations, inlcuding one as a crew member of Ladder 12 that rescued several people from a working building fire.





