News Release - City Manager Appoints New Fire Chief

Chief Abraira After a nationwide search for qualified candidates, City Manager Lee Feldman has appointed a new fire chief to replace Chief Larry Hellmann who is retiring effective September 29, 2007. Steve Abraira was selected out of a pool of more than 30 candidates. “I am very excited about the opportunity to make progressive changes for the future,” Abraira said. “This is a City where tremendous growth and expansion is taking place and I look forward to the challenge of meeting and exceeding the demand for quality fire and EMS service the citizens deserve.”

Abraira has an impressive background of experience including five-year tenure as the fire chief of the Dallas Fire-Rescue Department in Dallas, Texas. There, he was the City’s first Hispanic fire chief leading a department that had 55 fire stations and 2000 employees. Prior to becoming chief in Dallas, Abraira retired as the assistant chief of emergency response for the City of Miami Department of Fire-Rescue. Since age nineteen, Abraira has been in the fire service working his way through the ranks of firefighter, driver engineer, state certified fire service instructor, state certified fire inspector, fire lieutenant, station captain, hazmat commander, district chief, deputy division chief in operations, division chief over training and safety, assistant chief of management services, and ultimately the emergency response division. After a 26-year career in Miami, he retired in June of 2000 to assume the position of Dallas Fire Chief.

“The citizens of Palm Bay are fortunate to have such a qualified individual to lead our fire department into a very critical time,” said City Manager Lee Feldman. “We had many extremely professional and qualified candidates to choose from which made the decision very difficult.”

Among the challenges facing the new chief will be acquiring accreditation through the Center for Public Safety Excellence and getting the department ready to provide patient transport.

In calendar year 2006, the Palm Bay Fire Department responded to 9,408 reported incidents that included 7,106 emergency medical calls and 446 fire related calls. The new chief will be responsible for managing a department with 143 employees, five fire stations, and a current operating budget of 12-million dollars. Abraira will begin on September 10, 2007 and assume command of the fire department on September 29, 2007.

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Yvonne Martinez

Public Information Coordinator
Phone (321) 952-3456 ext. 4678
Cell (321) 426-5194
130 Malabar Road
Palm Bay, FL 32907

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