Fire Marshal Patrick (Pat) Burke was born and raised in Windsor, Ontario.

He began his career as a firefighter with the Windsor Fire Department in January 1968. He held the rank of Lieutenant and was qualified as a Captain before being promoted to Deputy Chief in April of 1994.

Fire Marshal Burke served on the Executive Board of the Ontario Professional Fire Fighters Association from 1978 to 1993 and was President from 1982 to 1986. From 1981 to 1991 Pat served as the fire fighters employee representative on the Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System (OMERS) Board and served as Chair for the years 1989 and 1990. Fire Marshal Burke graduated from the University of Windsor in 1971 with a BA in Sociology; graduated from the Labour College of Canada in 1972 with a diploma in Labour Studies; graduated from the University of Windsor Law School in 1990 with his LL.B, and was called to the bar in February 1992 Fire Marshal Burke was appointed Chief of the Niagara Falls Fire Department in March of 2002. He was President of the Canadian Association of Fire Chiefs (CAFC) from 2006 to 2008.

On December 1, 2006, he was appointed Fire Marshal for the Province of Ontario.