Sammy Negron becomes Beaufort’s fire chief
Sammy Negron becomes Beaufort’s fire chief
Beaufort City Manager Scott Dadson announced the elevation of Sammy Negron to be the new fire chief for the city’s award-winning fire department.
Negron has been serving as the interim chief since Wendell Wilburn retired last April 10 after almost 30 years of service. Spending almost a year reorganizing the Beaufort Fire Department and working through an extensive evaluation by outside consultants, Interim Fire Chief Sammy Negron today, Thursday, March 25, drops the “interim” from his title and becomes Fire Chief Sammy Negron.
“Chief Negron has demonstrated exceptional leadership during a difficult time as we worked to reorganize the fire department to improve service and efficiency,” Dadson said. “He is well qualified, well respected and well deserving of this promotion.”
For the past year, the International City/County Management Association has examined Beaufort’s police and fire departments to help guide restructuring of those departments. Their findings for the fire department included commendations for exceptional fire prevention and training efforts that limited fire loss, injuries and deaths.
According to Beaufort data, in February 2010:
* 66 percent of calls responded to by Beaufort firefighters are EMS (cardiac symptoms, injury, respiratory distress and medical other)
* 34 percent of calls by call type response are fire (structure, outside fire, alarm and hazard/service)
Of Beaufort firefighters’ time:
* 53 percent of time is spent on Fire Prevention, Public Education and Firefighter Training
* 23 percent of time is spent on Emergency Response
* 24 percent of time is spent on Fire Suppression.
“We are in the business of preventing fires,” Negron said earlier this month. “We’re not in the business of requesting more firefighters or more equipment so we can fight more fires. It’s all about preventing fires and property loss from fires.”
Beaufort Mayor Billy Keyserling pointed to Negron’s leadership, experience and stabilizing influence during a time of change as key reasons for his appointment. “As Interim Chief, Sammy demonstrated that he brings very strong leadership and management capabilities to our Fire Department service. We are pleased to have his exceptional experience, expertise and knowledge of the City in this critical position.”
Negron has been with the Beaufort Fire Department for 11 years. Prior to being named Interim Fire Chief by Dadson and then-Fire Chief Wendell Wilburn, Negron was Senior Fire Inspector and Fire Investigator for the City.
He previously served in the U.S. Marine Corps for 12 years, retiring as a sergeant specializing in civil engineering and utilities.
In 1998, Negron was named Volunteer Firefighter of the Year for Beaufort, and he repeated that honor in 2006 as the Career Firefighter of the Year. In 2003 he earned the Firehouse Magazine Medal for Valor and Courage and the U.S. Congressional Fire Service Institute Award for Dedication and Valor.
He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Fire Science and is accredited by numerous firefighting agencies, including the National Fire Protection Association, the International Code Council and the International Fire Service Accrediting Council.
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