At a press conference Tuesday, Mayor Kenney officially named his new fire commissioner, a Virginia transplant, and his pick for chief of prisons, a local veteran of the system and the first woman to hold the post.
The pick for the fire department, Adam Thiel, elicited some displeasure from firefighter's union officials, who said they would have preferred an internal pick but were eager to work with Thiel, as well as the black firefighter's alliance, who said they wanted Acting Commissioner Derrick Sawyer to stay at the helm.
Thiel has worked in four states, amassing a loaded resume in fire and emergency services, which Mayor Kenney says will serve the city well.
“This was the best choice…I think his breadth and width of knowledge when it comes to all hazards and the number of positions he’s held in multiple states will bring the best practice here to Philadelphia that we sorely need,” Kenney said. “This is not a knock on Derrick Sawyer or anyone else in the department, but there are things that went on that I did not agree with and I want a fresh set of eyes going forward.”
Kenney, the son of a firefighter, had denounced brownouts -- the periodic closing of stations as a cost saving measure -- and a system of forced rotations that occurred under the previous administration and for some of Sawyer's tenure.