Alabaster Fire Department Battalion Chief Nathan Smitherman is named as the city’s new fire chief.
The Alabaster Fire Department (AFD) will ring in the new year with a new fire chief. On January 1, Nathan Smitherman will take over as the new chief of the Alabaster Fire Department. Smitherman has been in the fire service for more than 20 years and has been with AFD since 2003 and currently holds the rank of battalion chief. Current Alabaster Fire Chief Tim Love, who has served as chief since 2018, retired at the end of the year.
“We have one of the top fire departments in the state, and Battalion Chief Smitherman is the clear choice to lead the department moving forward,” Alabaster 
Mayor Scott Brakefield said at Smitherman’s swearing in during a December council meeting. “I’m so excited to see the department continue to thrive under his leadership.”
Smitherman began his career in 1998 as a volunteer firefighter for the Montevallo Fire Department and served as a police and fire dispatcher for the City of Montevallo. He joined AFD as a firefighter in 2003, where he became a certified firefighter/paramedic and was promoted to the rank of apparatus operator in 2011. He was promoted to lieutenant in 2013 and captain the following year. After initiating the department’s first comprehensive fitness program and helping to develop AFD’s standard operating procedures, he was promoted to training officer in 2017. In 2022, he was promoted to battalion chief over the department’s training and EMS divisions.
Smitherman holds an associate’s degree in fire service from Jefferson State Community College, a bachelor’s in public safety and health administration from Athens State University, an MBA from the University of North Alabama, is a graduate of the Alabama Public Safety Leadership Academy, and is a credentialed chief training officer. He was named the department’s Firefighter of the Year in 2011 and again in 2025.
“It is a privilege to serve this department and an absolute honor to be entrusted with leading us into the future,” Smitherman says. “Our organization has a long tradition of service, professionalism, and dedication, and I am committed to building on that strong foundation. I am incredibly proud of the men and women of this department, their purpose driven service, combined with the unwavering support of our Mayor and City Council, allows us to meet the high expectations of our community. Alabaster is a remarkable place to live and work, and I’m grateful to continue serving it in this new role.”
