By Jane Smith
Boynton Beach and Delray Beach have promoted their interim fire chiefs to chief in their respective cities.
In Boynton Beach, Matthew S. Petty, 39, was promoted to fire chief on March 9 by the Boynton Beach city manager.
In Delray Beach, Louis “Keith” Tomey III, who had served as interim fire chief three times, was named the chief on March 31.
Petty, previously deputy chief, took over as interim chief on Nov. 29, after Glenn Joseph resigned to contemplate a career move.
In 2008, Petty joined Boynton Beach as a firefighter. Over the years, he rose through the ranks at the department.
“I’m very excited to lead the organization and better serve the community,” Petty said.
His salary is $150,000. Boynton Beach has contracts with the barrier island towns of Briny Breezes and Ocean Ridge to provide fire-rescue services.
Tomey, 56, is making $165,239. He became the interim chief on March 10 after Neal de Jesus resigned while the city was investigating harassment claims against him.
Tomey has spent more than 33 years in the fire service.
“It’s an honor and a privilege to be appointed to lead this great department,” Tomey said in a prepared statement. “Together, we have accomplished so much in the past few years. My goal is to keep moving forward and to keep improving.”
Tomey, whose father was also a fire chief, started his career in Miramar in 1986, when he was hired as a firefighter/paramedic. He rose through the ranks at Miramar Fire Rescue and eventually served as fire chief from January 2014 to December 2016. Then, he was hired at Delray Beach Fire Rescue as assistant fire chief.
Tomey promoted Battalion Chief Greg Giaccone to the rank of assistant chief in charge of operations.
Delray Beach provides fire-rescue services to the towns of Gulf Stream and Highland Beach on the barrier island.
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