October 7, 2016
The City of Toronto and Fire Chief Jim Sales have announced that effective today, October 7, Sales will leave his position as Fire Chief and General Manager of Toronto Fire Services.
Sales, who has been on personal leave for the past few months, joined the City of Toronto as Fire Chief and General Manager of Toronto Fire Services in July 2012. During his time in the role, he led a number of complex and challenging initiatives including an updated Master Fire Plan (2015-2019) focused on modernizing and making improvements to service delivery through the use of technology, improved training and resource management to become more service efficient and cost effective. Under Sales's leadership, Fire Prevention also was enhanced to move from a "reactive" model to a "proactive" model to focus on alarm reductions and creating a safer city for all.
“It’s been an honour to lead Toronto Fire Services for the past four and a half years," said Sales. “I am proud of what we have been able to accomplish. I sincerely hope that our efforts will provide a strong foundation for the Fire Service to continue to excel.”
Sales began his career in public service as a Fire/Emergency Medical Service responder and quickly advanced up the ranks gaining experience working in a variety of work environments including rural, suburban, urban and industrial areas. Sales served communities in Edmonton, Markham and Barrie in various leadership capacities before joining the City of Toronto.
“I would like to extend my personal thanks to Jim for his work leading Toronto Fire Services, the largest and one of the most complex fire services in the country," said Deputy City Manager John Livey. "Toronto Fire Services has strong leadership throughout its ranks and I am confident that the team is prepared to meet current and future challenges as we embark on a process to fill the top leadership role."
Deputy Chief Matthew Pegg will continue in his role as Interim Fire Chief while the City conducts a competitive search for a new Fire Chief.
Toronto is Canada's largest city, the fourth largest in North America, and home to a diverse population of about 2.8 million people. It is a global centre for business, finance, arts and culture and is consistently ranked one of the world's most livable cities. For information on non-emergency City services and programs, Toronto residents, businesses and visitors can visit
http://www.toronto.ca, call 311, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, or follow us @TorontoComms.
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Media contact: Wynna Brown, Strategic Communications, 416-919-6503 (cell), This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
