News

Firefighter told 23 years ago, `work hard, you`ll be chief`... now she is

Tony Doris

05/05/2017

May 05--WEST PALM BEACH -- Diana Matty joined West Palm Beach Fire Rescue fresh out of high school, in October 1994.

She was 18.

Work hard and someday you'll be chief, they told her.

"I took that to heart. I've been a hard worker all of my career," Matty said.

They made good on their promise Tuesday at 5 p.m. -- on an interim basis, anyway -- when City Administrator Jeff Green called to tell Asst. Chief Matty that Fire Chief Dan Hanes had left and to ask her to stand in as chief.

While the city decides how to fill the job on permanently, Matty, 41, who has risen through the ranks as a firefighter, paramedic, hazmat expert and emergency operations leader, commands a department with 228 employees and an annual budget of $35.7 million.

"This has been a goal of mine for my career," the daughter of a retired Miramar firefighter said Thursday, the morning after the change was announced to staff. "I'm sure it was no surprise to people that it was something I always wanted to do."

No word from the city on why Hanes, who'd only been on the job since October 2015, left so suddenly. Matty said she didn't know he was going to leave.

Born in Hialeah, raised in the Florida Keys, she went to high school in Pembroke Pines before joining the department as a firefighter. She got her emergency medical technician licence, then her paramedic license. In 2002 she became a lieutenant; in 2005, a captain; in 2012, a battalion chief; and in 2015, assistant chief in charge of emergency operations, among other responsibilities.

Along the way, she earned an associates degree from Palm Beach State College; and bachelor's in fire and emergency services and a graduate certificate in emergency management, both from the University of Florida.

She has saved her share of lives as a firefighter and rescuer. She has traveled the country as a fire service instructor for various organizations. She's also a master hazmat instructor and has traveled to teach in New York City, New Orleans, Seattle, among many other cities.

Locally she has served as the department's public information officer, winning friends among the media for her accessibility and helpfulness, even when some call her at 6 a.m. for details on the latest fire. "I try to be a good PIO and provide pertinent, relevant information when I can," she said.

She has also worked on department budgets, particularly as assistant chief, but also when she was a captain managing daily purchase for the hazmat station, all the way down to the toilet paper. "It's kind of like running a household, and as you go up in rank the house gets bigger."

And she has pulled in money, not just spent it. She estimates she has written and received $9.4 million in federal grants for the department.

Her top priority this week is SunFest, where department paramedics staff a medical tent to serve the five-day music event on the waterfront, where 175,000 are expected to brave the heat.

Also on her to-do list will be to oversee construction of two replacement fire stations, No. 4 in Flamingo Park and No. 8 on Northlake Boulevard, near the Ibis Golf and Country Club.

She'll have no problem keeping busy. The city and department have grown since she joined 22 years ago.

In 1994, the department was responding to 15,000 to 16,000 calls a year. Now it's up to 25,000 to 28,000 and the department and the technology it deploys have changed considerably," she said.

One other thing that's different: She's now one of six department heads (police, fire, parks and recreation, public utilities, information technology and city clerk) who are female in West Palm Beach, where the mayor, three of five commissioners, the city attorney and deputy city administrator, among others, also all are female.

"I'm proud to be serving in the position I am," Matty said of the interim posting. "It's a true honor."