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.