Stephen Otero, FM — Founder & President

Stephen Otero is a fire prevention professional, Fire Marshal, educator, and public safety leader with 20 years of fire service experience, including more than 12 years in Deputy Fire Marshal, Acting Fire Marshal, and Fire Marshal leadership roles. His career has centered on fire prevention administration, code administration, organizational improvement, workforce development, regulatory policy, and public safety leadership across Tennessee and California. 

Stephen currently serves as Senior Deputy Fire Marshal with the Franklin Fire Department, where he provides senior-level fire prevention and code administration leadership for one of Tennessee’s rapidly developing communities. His responsibilities include complex fire and life-safety plan review, development projects, technical code interpretation, and advising city staff, architects, engineers, developers, contractors, and property owners. He has also developed departmental policies and development guidelines, modernized inspection scheduling, and established updated fee structures to improve the consistency and effectiveness of fire prevention services. 

During his tenure with the City of Palm Springs Fire Department, Stephen played a significant role in developing and modernizing the City’s fire prevention program. He helped establish the City’s Fire Marshal position and was subsequently offered the opportunity to serve as Palm Springs’ first official Fire Marshal, which he respectfully declined due to his planned relocation to Tennessee. Stephen developed and implemented a High Fire Hazard Area program to address the community’s unique fire and wildfire risks, participated in the City’s fire code adoption process in coordination with state requirements, and established operational permit requirements and associated fee structures. He also implemented organizational and workforce-development improvements that increased plan-review and new-construction inspection productivity by approximately 80% and developed an ICC Fire Inspector certification program that achieved a 100% examination pass rate. His work helped establish the regulatory, operational, and professional framework for a more comprehensive and effective fire prevention program within the City of Palm Springs.

Stephen is also an Adjunct Professor of Fire Technology at College of the Desert, where he has taught and developed fire-service professionals since 2018 in fire prevention, building construction, fire codes, and State Fire Marshal curriculum. His commitment to the profession extends nationally through the International Code Council, where he serves on Fire Code Action Committee working groups addressing Energy Technologies, Wildland-Urban Interface Provisions, Passive Fire Protection, and Active Fire Protection. 

As Founder and President of the Tennessee Fire Marshals Association, Stephen brings that experience together with a belief that effective fire prevention requires more than technical code knowledge—it requires consistent administration, strong leadership, investment in personnel, meaningful professional development, collaboration with local jurisdictions, and productive relationships with the organizations and industries we serve. He holds the Fire Marshal (FM) designation from the Center for Public Safety Excellence, multiple ICC certifications, a Bachelor of Science in Fire Protection Administration and Technology, and is completing a Master of Public Administration with a concentration in Public Management.