Matt Daniel
The Dalton Public Safety Commission has named Matt Daniel as the sole finalist for the position of chief of the Dalton Fire Department. Mr. Daniel was selected from a field of four applicants from within the ranks of the Dalton Fire Department.
Mr. Daniel’s appointment as chief will not be official unless it is approved by a vote of the Dalton Mayor and Council. The council will consider a vote on his appointment after a two-week waiting period as required by state law. The council’s next scheduled meeting following the completion of that waiting period is on Nov. 6, at 6 p.m.
Mr. Daniel is a 20-year veteran of the Dalton Fire Department, having joined the agency in January 2003. Before joining the DFD, he completed his NPQ fire qualification with the Jefferson (Ga.) Fire Department. He served in the department’s Suppression Division for nearly 15 years, rising through the ranks and serving as a member of the Special Operations Team, HazMat Team, and on the Georgia Search and Rescue team. In 2017, he became Dalton’s fire marshal and coordinator for the department’s Preventions Division. In 2019, he was promoted to the rank of captain and in 2021, he was named the chief of the division. He is a graduate of Dalton High School and studied at the University of North Georgia and Truett McConnell University.
Mr. Daniel said, “I’m humbled and honored to have the opportunity to lead the men and women of the Dalton Fire Department. It’s an exciting adventure and I’m ready and willing to accept the challenge and move the department forward and serve the community. I want to emphasize that there were three other very well qualified candidates from within the ranks of the fire department and that says a lot about the quality of training that we have here and that’s something that the department is proud of. It’s definitely a priority to maintain those high standards.”
“We had a very tough decision because we had some great candidates,” said Truman Whitfield, chairman of the Dalton Public Safety Commission. “I think Matt Daniel has an intensity in the way he looks at being thorough with his job. He’s task-oriented and outcome-oriented, and I think he wants what’s best not only for the community by for the individual members of the agency and he’ll be able to move the agency forward.”
Mr. Daniel’s selection will fill the vacancy left by the departure of Todd Pangle from the Dalton Fire Department to become Dalton’s assistant city administrator.