Mark Novak has been the fire chief of Vail (Colorado) Fire and Emergency Services since January 2015. Novak began his fire service career in the San Diego area in 1984 and relocated to the Lake Tahoe region of northern Nevada in 1990, where he served for 24 years. Novak has a master’s degree in public administration, a bachelor’s degrees in fire administration and fire prevention, and holds the CPSE CFO designation. Novak is the chair of the International Association of Fire Chiefs - Wildland Fire Policy Committee, and sits on the NFPA Wildland and Rural Fire Protection Technical Committee, the Wildland Fire Leadership Council, and is an appointed member of the Colorado Fire Commission.
