Since 2001 Randall Talifarro has served as Fire Chief for the City of East Lansing Fire Department. The fire department is a full-paid agency that provides services to the residents of East Lansing (pop. 46,500) and the campus of Michigan State University with over 46,000 students. The department performs fire, EMS (Paramedic level), HazMat (Technician level), High-Angle Rescue, Confined Space Rescue, Structural Collapse and Water Rescue operations.

Chief Talifarro has over 24-years in the fire service. Previously, he worked for the City of Flint Fire Department where he retired as Assistant Fire Chief. There he also labored as Battalion Chief for the Safety and Training Division. Randall has a B.A. in Public Administration from the University of Michigan. He has serves on the IAFC Education and Training (EMC) Sub-Committee and the Joint IAFC/IAFF Promotional Taskforce. Chief Talifarro is a member of the Michigan Association of Fire Chiefs (Great Lakes Division).

Randall is a State of Michigan Certified Professional Emergency Manager (PEM) and has extensive training from FEMA attending the National Fire Academy (NFA) and Emergency Management Institute (EMI) on numerous occasions. He serves on a number of State teams most notably the Michigan Critical Infrastructure Coordinating Committee and the Michigan Automated Critical Asset Management Team.

Chief Talifarro is a Certified Instructor through DHS, EMI (NIMS and WMD) and a State Instructor for: EMS (Paramedic level), HazMat, Firefighter I/II and Fire Officer I/II/III. He has significant fire, EMS and field experience from which to draw.

Randall is married to Shawn an elementary school principal. They have two sons, Ramone and Roland. Ramone is a firefighter for the City of Indianapolis.