Leonard Burns

The 1st Brigade Battalion Commander is the leader of the 1st Special Fire Brigade.

Appearance
He is a tall man with light-colored hair and a bearded chin-strap. His hair goes back into a pony-tail. He wears a black eye-patch on his right eye for unknown reasons. He wears a plain white shirt with the top-button undone, as well as the Special Fire Brigade jacket with the number "1" on it, which is also unbuttoned, and is worn in a fashion that he keeps the jacket on his shoulders with his arms not going through the sleeves. He wears plain black trousers with a belt that has the crest of the Special Fire Brigade.

Personality
He is shown to have a welcoming and kind presence, though can turn serious when the time calls for it without hesitating. For some reason, he wants to keep the secrets of the events that happened on the day of Shinra's mother and supposedly brother dying from being revealed to Shinra himself. Shinra noted him to be intimidating, but seemingly a nice person.

Background
In Year 186, the officer attended the scene of a fire incident involving Shinra's family home, where he managed to rescue the boy. Some time following the event, for unknown reasons, he attained an eye-patch.

Introduction arc
Appearing at the Fire Officer Newcomer Tournament to support his subordinates participation, he stumbled into Shinra along the way. As Shinra introduced himself, the Battalion Commander realizes who he was, and turns away saying he had no time for idle chit-chat. Shinra attempts to get his attention once more, and asks if he remembers a fire incident that happened 12 years ago, referring to the incident that killed his mother and supposedly little brother. However the Battalion Commander turns and looks at him, saying he wouldn't remember a needle in a haystack like that which happened years ago, and tells Shinra it's probably best he prepares himself for the upcoming tournament.