Fire Chief

Les Stephens

Les Stephens is a 20 year veteran of the fire service. While still attending high school, he began his career as a volunteer firefighter with the River Oaks Fire Department. At 18 he was hired by the Garland Fire Department and over the past 18 years has served in many capacities, leaving as a Battalion Chief to become the Fire Chief here in San Marcos. Chief Stephens has an associate’s degree in Fire Protection from Tarrant County College and is currently enrolled in the National Fire Academy’s Executive Fire Officer Program. He holds numerous fire service certifications including, Master Firefighter, Fire Officer I and II, Intermediate Instructor, Hazardous Materials Technician and Licensed Paramedic.

His love for the fire service and interest in training firefighters has earned him numerous additional opportunities. He has served as the Training Lieutenant for the Garland Fire Department and was fortunate to have the opportunity to instruct at the Dallas Fire Department’s recruit academy. He has been an instructor at Texas A&M University’s Municipal Fire School, the Fire Department Instructor’s Conference in Indianapolis and the Collin College Fire Science Program. In addition to his duties as an instructor at Collin College, he has also worked the last several years as the In-Service Operations Coordinator. In that capacity, he has been responsible for planning, scheduling and coordinating training classes for several departments throughout the North Texas area, including Plano, McKinney and Allen. Chief Stephens has also authored numerous articles for fire service publications and taught many contract classes for departments throughout Texas.

Assistant Fire Chief

Len Nored

Administration and Personnel

Assistant Fire Chief Len Nored is a native Texan and has been a member of the San Marcos Fire Department since October 1985.  He received his Firefighter Certification from Texas A&M Fire School.  He was promoted through the ranks of Engineer and Lieutenant before being appointed to Assistant Chief in 2002.   He has twice served the department as Interim Fire Chief.

He holds numerous fire certifications including Master Firefighter, Fire Officer I and II, Intermediate Instructor III, Hazardous Materials Technician, EMT-B, Driver/Operator, CPR, Fire Investigator, Swiftwater Technician and Wildland SAR Operations.

He attended Texas A&M University from 1980 - 1981, where he studied Petroleum Engineering.  Prior to receiving a Bachelor of Science degree, he took a management position with Vorwerk, USA. He succeeded in creating the number two sales office in the nation.