Satsuma’s Mayor Appointed New Theodore Dawes Fire Chief
By Dale Hines
Blue RAM Media/Gulf Coast News
July 19, 2025
MOBILE, Ala. Mark Barlow, the mayor of the city of Satsuma, is now wearing a second hat, literally, after being appointed the new Fire Chief of the Theodore Dawes Fire District.
The fire district continues to grow, covering their district with four fire stations.
The new fire chief wants to provide a better service and improve accountability to try to put things in place to continue to grow the department in the right direction.
The fire district’s board recently tapped Barlow to take this full-time job after the resignation of Chief Frank Byrd.
“He was the right person at the right time for the job,” says the attorney for the fire district’s board, Jay Ross.
“Well, the fire department was looking for someone to be a good administrator and not be an expert at fighting fires,” says Ross. “Several people were interviewed and it was determined by the board that Mark was able and willing to take the job on his past experience of running an municipality, and the board thought it would be a good move to have an administrator run this fire district since it’s large and expanding and all the employees and problems that go with it.”
Barlow will not be giving up his part time job as Satsuma Mayor, but he will be taking over a department that is experiencing similar growing pains at the one serving his city.
Satsuma’s fire department has also transitioned from an all-volunteer department to a mix of volunteers and paid part- and full-time staff.
Both areas are growing rapidly said Barlow and we need to have the staffing and the equipment to respond to the many types of calls that fire departments receive.
But the Theodore Dawes department is much larger and is now planning to add a central fire station on busy Shillinger Road.
“Other than Mobile, we run more calls than anybody,” says district board chairman Johnny Hatcher. “We run over 400 calls a month consistently.”
Hatcher says, unlike Chief Byrd, Barlow won’t be driving a truck or fighting fires.
He’ll be strictly dedicated to running and growing the department.
Nationwide, many fire chiefs working at larger departments are administrative only and seldom respond to a fire or medical call.
However, these departments all have “Battalion Chiefs” or Deputy Chiefs that do respond to emergency calls and oversees the scene.
Hatcher says he knows some people served by the district might be uncomfortable with change, but believes they’ll grow to appreciate Barlow like they did Chief Byrd.
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