Douglas J. Mitchell Jr. has 30 years of fire service experience, the past 24 with the Fire Department of New York (FDNY). He is the captain of Ladder Company 38 in the Belmont section of the Bronx. He is an FDNY IMT member and served as the executive officer of the Probationary Firefighters School. He previously served with the Fairfax County (VA) and Howard County (MD) Fire & Rescue Departments. He co-wrote Fire Engineering's 25 to Survive: Reducing Residential Injury and LODD with Dan Shaw.