Our leadership team
Dan Krier
State Fire Marshal
Daniel Krier has been state fire marshal and director of the Office of Pipeline Safety since September 2023. Krier began his career in public service in
2009 serving most recently as the fire marshal for the City of Brooklyn Park. During his time there, Krier implemented a robust fire inspection program, enhanced the fire investigation program, and expanded the department’s community outreach and educational activities. Before becoming state fire marshal, he was the vice president of the Fire Marshals Association of Minnesota.
Krier started in the fire service as a paid-on-call firefighter for North St. Paul Fire in 2014 and was later promoted to full-time fire inspector in August 2015. Prior to working full-time in the fire service, Krier spent six years at the Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) Public Health Laboratory as an environmental analyst and a research scientist. His work at MDH included chemical threat preparedness and response, training of state chemical assessment teams, and research on firefighter exposure to cyanide in fire smoke.
Krier has a bachelor’s degree in chemistry from the University of North Dakota and a master’s degree in environmental health from the University of Minnesota.
Amanda Swenson
Chief Deputy State Fire Marshal
Amanda Swenson is the chief deputy state fire marshal overseeing our fire prevention and fire code functions. Swenson has served as the chief deputy state fire marshal since June 2020.
Swenson joined the State Fire Marshal division in 2014 as a fire and life safety educator. In 2018, she became the supervisor of the State Services and Support Team, which includes public education, fire service specialists, state response teams and fleet.
Swenson has been a firefighter on the Braham Fire Department since 2010.
Before she became a firefighter, Swenson earned a bachelor’s degree from Northland College in Ashland, Wis.
After earning her degree, she worked in the admissions office at Northland for seven years before returning to Minnesota. She then started working in 4-H youth development with the University of Minnesota Extension program in Mille Lacs and Isanti Counties. During this time, she also earned a master’s degree from the University of Minnesota.
Tate Mills
Chief Deputy State Fire Marshal
Tate Mills is the chief deputy state fire marshal overseeing our operations functions.
Mills has served as the chief deputy state fire marshal of operations since August of 2024.
Mills started with the State Fire Marshal division in 2016 as a fire service specialist, serving as a liaison to fire departments, fire service stakeholder groups and local governments. He helped fire departments throughout the state with everything from administrative issues to emergency response support. He also managed our drone program and previously managed the service planning grant program.
Mills began his fire service career in 1997 with the Albertville Fire Department. He worked his way through the ranks to the position of assistant fire chief (2005-2006) and in 2007 was named fire chief. During his eight years as fire chief, he helped implement the city’s first fire inspection program, developed a program to recruit and retain firefighters, and partnered with neighboring cities to implement a joint fire board. Mills also helped lead the department through the transition to its first full-time career fire chief. After that transition, he remained on the department for six years as assistant fire chief, leading day-to-day operations and fire investigations, retiring from the department in 2021.
Before his work with the State Fire Marshal division, Mills worked 15 years for a defense contractor and was also a nine-year member of the Minnesota Army National Guard’s 34th Infantry Division.