# HC0058 - T. John Cunningham - Assistant Commissioner - MN Dept of Public Safety

Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/hazard-class-7048185/hc0058-t-john-cunningham-assistant-commissioner-mn-dept-of-public-safety
Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/hazard-class-7048185/hc0058-t-john-cunningham-assistant-commissioner-mn-dept-of-public-safety.md
Podcast: [HAZARD CLASS](https://stenobird.com/podcast/hazard-class-7048185)
Published: 2026-03-04T13:00:00+00:00
Episode link: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/hazardclass/episodes/HC0058---T--John-Cunningham---Assistant-Commissioner---MN-Dept-of-Public-Safety-e3ftj3u
Audio file: https://anchor.fm/s/10cbe1c68/podcast/play/116361790/https%3A%2F%2Fd3ctxlq1ktw2nl.cloudfront.net%2Fstaging%2F2026-2-4%2F419248154-44100-2-2528f4398bdbf.mp3
Processing state: not_requested
JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/hazard-class-7048185/episodes/hc0058-t-john-cunningham-assistant-commissioner-mn-dept-of-public-safety
Duration seconds: 4398

## Resource

Jake sits down with T. John Cunningham , Assistant Commissioner at the Minnesota Department of Public Safety. With a background in fire service leadership and emergency management, Cunningham shares his unique journey from a young fire explorer in Greenwich, Connecticut, to overseeing statewide emergency response systems in Minnesota. John@tjohncunningham.com www.tjohncunningham.com/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/tjohncunningham/ Chapters: 00:00 - Introduction Host Jake introduces T. John Cunningham, former fire chief, emergency manager, and current Assistant Commissioner at the Minnesota Department of Public Safety. 03:00 - Early Beginnings in Public Safety T. John reflects on how his public safety journey began at the age of 13 in Greenwich, Connecticut, as a Fire Explorer, sparking his passion for firefighting and technical rescue. 07:00 - Moving to Minnesota Cunningham discusses his move to Minnesota to become fire chief and emergency management director in Elk River, including the personal challenges of relocating across the country. 10:00 - Leading Elk River Fire Department Cunningham talks about his time as Fire Chief in Elk River, transforming the department and overcoming challenges as a younger fire service leader. 14:00 - Transitioning to Brooklyn Park Cunningham shares the challenges of leading the Brooklyn Park Fire Department, transitioning from a volunteer workforce to a full-time career service. 18:00 - Building the Brooklyn Park Fire Academy The creation of a fire academy in Brooklyn Park to improve training standards and recruit from within the community. Cunningham discusses how they structured the academy for success. 22:00 - The Art of Leading a Career Department Cunningham talks about leading a career department, emphasizing the importance of settin…

## Actions

- request_transcript: `POST https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/hazard-class-7048185/episodes/hc0058-t-john-cunningham-assistant-commissioner-mn-dept-of-public-safety/transcription-requests` — Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode.
- read_markdown: `GET https://stenobird.com/podcast/hazard-class-7048185/hc0058-t-john-cunningham-assistant-commissioner-mn-dept-of-public-safety.md` — Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource.

A page view does not enqueue transcription. Agents should invoke `request_transcript` explicitly when they need this episode processed.

## Transcript

Full transcripts are not published on public pages unless there is a clear rights basis.