Former chief fire officer Darren Dovey has been appointed CEO of MapAction. With 35 years experience responding to and leading responses to everything from floods to heatwaves or pandemics and high-rise fires, Darren understands the role that good data plays in informing critical decisions in emergencies.
As a young firefighter, he was sent to help extinguish the flames at Windsor Castle in 1992. In the early 2000s with the London Fire Brigade, he responded to fires in factories, highrises and warehouses in East London. Then the 7/7 terrorist attack in Russell Square. In 2016 he was made a Chief Fire Officer for Northamptonshire, meaning he led the county’s fire and rescue service, including through Covid-19. In his time in the fire service Darren has responded to floods, wildfires, major fire incidents, road traffic collisions, chemical incidents as well as pandemics, in various roles since 1987.
Besides organisational management, leadership and command duties, Darren’s role in the fire service involved assessing strategic risk too. This is where he first encountered GIS and risk modelling: to establish the best locations for new fire stations or to ensure strategic fire cover, for example. “The fire service’s strategic plan is driven by data. I’ve always understood how important good data is for critical decision-making,” Darren told the MapAction communications department.
“Back in the fire service, we used data to work out who was vulnerable in order to target our community safety work, which was critical to reducing fires and fire deaths” Darren recalls. “At MapAction, we do that on a much larger scale so I understand what MapAction does and how important it is from a command and operational sense.”
Darren started his career in Royal Berkshire before moving to London Fire Brigade in 1999. In 2008 he transferred to Northamptonshire finally becoming the Chief in 2016 until he retired in 2022. During Covid-19, he chaired the Northamptonshire Local Resilience Forum – a network of local organisations charged with planning and preparing for emergencies that affect more than one agency. He was awarded the King’s Fire Service Medal in the 2022-2023 New Year’s Honours List in recognition of “a distinguished career in the fire service.”
Despite this wealth of experience, Darren says he continues to be amazed by the level of technical skills in MapAction’s volunteer team of 60+ members. “Their ability to find, manage and present data in the way they do, it’s incredible. The end result always amazes me. Our maps mean somebody gets food, medicine or a vital service in an emergency.”
The ability to be a “critical cog in the wheel” to humanitarian partners in emergencies, ranging from UN and national lead agencies to local civil society organisations, is partly what attracted Darren to the role. That and a passion for maps. “I’m one of those people that loves looking at maps. I love maps,” says Darren, not able to hide an enthusiastic smile. “My family often laughs at me; when I travel, a map is the first thing I buy.”
Having navigated a difficult few months in the humanitarian sector as interim CEO, Darren is looking forward to taking on the role permanently. Looking at strategic priorities going forward, Darren says “the priority is to innovate in the right areas and to use the MapAction volunteers’ expertise.”
MapAction’s volunteers work for 11 government agencies, 8 academic institutions and major AI, GIS or risk modelling private sector companies, among others. Harnessing this expertise will be critical to understand the role that new technologies like drones, satellite imagery and AI can play in strengthening data-driven decisions in emergencies, adds Darren.
“The priority is to innovate in the right areas and to use the MapAction volunteer’s expertise.”
Darren Dovey
Ultimately, it’s the feeling of doing something good every day that links Darren’s former work in public service and his current role as CEO of a humanitarian mapping charity. “As a firefighter I always felt it was a privilege to be able to say that I’d contributed something at the end of the day. I feel that leading MapAction too and that’s a good feeling” says Darren.
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