Meet the team

Glenn Polk - Fire Chief
Administration / Emergency Management and Emergency Management Director

Chief Polk oversees all of the fire department and emergency management administration, including budgets, purchases, grants and capital planning. In addition, works with community partners to coordinate and facilitate resources during disasters and on preparedness efforts including planning and exercises, while collaborating with government agencies, private companies and nonprofit organizations that provide support for our community during emergencies and disasters.

In 1988, he began his career in the fire service as a volunteer firefighter with the Spalding County Fire Department. In 1991, Chief Polk was hired as a career firefighter and has worked his way through the ranks to his current position from Lieutenant in 1996, Captain in 1999, Battalion Chief in 2011, Deputy Chief in 2013, which was later reclassified as Fire Chief – Administration /Emergency Management in 2021.  

In addition to his fire department duties, Chief Polk was appointed as one of the Deputy Directors for the Spalding County Office of Homeland Security in 2010, where before he had served as Rescue Coordinator for 10 years, then appointed as Director in 2017.   

Chief Polk holds an Associate of Science in Business Administration from Gordon College, Bachelor of Business Administration from Clayton State College and a Master of Public Administration from Walden University.  He is also a graduate with an Executive Certificate of Homeland Security and Emergency Management from the University of Georgia.

He is credentialed through the Center for Public Safety Excellence as a Chief Fire Officer, the Georgia Association of Fire Chief’s as a Fire Chief, the International Accreditation of Fire Service Organizations as a Firefighter II, Fire Instructor, Public Fire and Life Safety Educator and Fire Officer III. In addition, Chief Polk is a certified Emergency Medical Technician – Intermediate, Car Seat Technician, Community Emergency Response Team T4 Instructor /Facilitator, Crisis Coordinator Certification from Crisis Risk Strategies and Certified as an Emergency Manager at the Professional level by the Georgia Emergency Management Agency. Currently, Chief Polk is working on his Certified Emergency Manager credentialing from the International Association of Emergency Managers.

Chief Polk was the 2023 Emergency Management Director of the Year from the Emergency Management Association of Georgia. He also serves as the Emergency Management liaison on the Region F Healthcare Coalition and Region 4 EMS Council. He is an active member of the Griffin Daybreak Rotary.

Chief Polk is a lifelong resident of Griffin and Spalding County and is married to Mary Hughes Polk, who is a Registered Nurse with Wellstar Spalding Regional Hospital, and they have three children, Colby who graduated from Georgia Southern University and is an Assistant Superintendent for Holder Construction in Omaha Nebraska, Laney who graduated from Gordon State College and is a First Grade Teacher with the Henry County School System and Cade who is a sophomore at Middle Georgia State University majoring in Aviation.