Delray Beach Fire Rescue Ladder Driver Received Glowing Reviews

David Wyatt received glowing reviews each year at Delray Beach Fire Rescue.

He began his career 23 years ago as an Ocean Rescue Officer in 2002, working his way up to Driver Engineer in late 2015. It was a promotion he had strived toward for years, personnel records obtained by the South Florida Sun Sentinel Thursday show.

A supervisor noted soon after he joined Delray Beach Fire Rescue that Wyatt had “potential of becoming more.” As Wyatt climbed in the department and as noted in his most recent annual evaluation, he was routinely recognized by supervisors as someone the city should be proud of as a representative, someone eager to learn, and someone who brought a positive, hardworking attitude to work every day. His supervisors year after year ranked him highly on safety, while on and off emergency calls.

The years of positive reviews preceded a Dec. 28 crash with a Brightline train, where Wyatt drove a $1 million ladder truck onto the tracks with the crossing gates lowered as the high-speed passenger drain barreled toward it. Wyatt and two of his fellow firefighters on the truck were sent to the hospital as trauma alerts.

The violent crash has resulted in numerous investigations, public scrutiny of the fire department, and heated disagreements among city officials over transparency. It has also raised questions about previous issues with fire department personnel driving city-owned vehicles while the status of their licenses were in question during their employment.

Wyatt’s driver’s license was suspended in October 2023 after a June traffic citation for careless driving in a personal car, Palm Beach County court records show. There is no mention of a license suspension or the crash that led to it in his annual review around that time, completed by Capt. Brian Fiorey and signed off on by then-Chief Keith Tomey in September 2023.

Only once in Wyatt’s personnel file is there mention of his driver’s license. In his 2008 to 2009 annual evaluation, while not yet a Driver Engineer, his then-supervisor wrote under areas for Wyatt to improve: “Paramedic Wyatt needs to be certain that all clerical issues such as having a valid Driver’s License are kept current at all times.”

There were no records in Wyatt’s personnel file indicating he had ever been disciplined or internally investigated.

City and fire department officials have clashed over what information to make public about the crash, so far releasing 911 calls and dispatch audio from the day of the crash and the names of four people on administrative leave stemming from the Brightline crash, including Wyatt. The fire department’s union heavily criticized Chief Ronald Martin for publicly naming them.

At least 10 fire department employees are believed to have had suspended licenses while working for the city of Delray Beach, according to brief discussion at the commission meeting earlier this month. Commissioner Rob Long said at the meeting that all personnel on the fire rescue truck at the time of the crash have active licenses.

Since the Brightline crash, Wyatt has been placed on administrative leave with pay, along with Capt. Brian Fiorey, who personnel records show was Wyatt’s direct manager in 2023 and 2024 and who city officials said was also on the ladder truck at the time of the crash.

Two senior staff members, Assistant Chief Kevin Green and Division Chief Todd Lynch, are also on paid leave stemming from the crash, with the investigation of them focusing on “the review of the driving record of City employee, David Wyatt, received on May 10, 2024,” Chief Ronald Martin said in Jan. 3 memos to them.

Firefighter Joseph Fiumara III, the third person who was on the ladder truck that was destroyed in the Brightline collision, has not been placed on leave.

Driver Engineer David Wyatt

Wyatt, 46, served in the U.S. Air Force and was a lifeguard for Lake Worth Beach for 2½ years before applying for the Delray Ocean Rescue job, where he got his start. Shortly after joining the department, Wyatt seemed to know he wanted to stay.

“I am looking forward to a long career with DBFR,” he wrote as a comment in his July 2005 evaluation.

Wyatt is a member of the Station 115 crew, the department’s Special Operations station, personnel records show. The six-member crew assigned to the station specialized in HAZMAT, high-angle and confined-space rescues, heavy extrication and dive rescues, the department’s website for the station says. In 2015, Wyatt was a dive instructor for the department and in 2014 was recognized as one of the department’s leaders in Dive Rescue.

His supervisor in a 2014 evaluation said Wyatt had not had any preventable crashes.

As a Driver Engineer in 2019, he was recognized as a leader for younger crew members at Station 115, according to his review that year. Between 2017 and 2019, Wyatt had not had any “reportable incidents” while a Driver Engineer.

“Engineer Wyatt adheres to the Palm Beach County Code of Ethics,” his supervisor wrote in June 2018. “He consistently operates apparatus in a safe and appropriate manner on both emergency and non-emergency responses.”

In his most recent review in June 2024, his supervisor Fiorey wrote he was a reliable and respectable role model in the Special Operations Program and the department overall, receiving an “outstanding” rating in every category in the evaluation, including in safety and compliance.

Capt. Brian Fiorey

Fiorey was hired in 2005 as a firefighter/paramedic, with previous experience as an Ocean Rescue Lifeguard for Miami-Dade Fire Rescue.

He became a certified firefighter in 2004 and within a few years, supervisors were impressed by him, saw him becoming a leader in the department and encouraged him to aim toward the Driver Engineer and higher ranks.

While a paramedic, Fiorey’s 2005 to 2006 evaluation said he had been in a “minor accident,” according to the document, and his supervisor said he needed “to understand the importance of judgment and safety pertaining to his job.”

He became a Driver Engineer in 2012 and was another member of the Special Operations station routinely praised by supervisors for his work ethic, attitude and safety. Fiorey was promoted to captain in June 2014. A supervisor in 2014 noted he was “extremely safety conscious” and a member of the department’s Health and Safety Committee.

There were no disciplinary records in the documents obtained by the Sun Sentinel.

Fiorey in his most recent review, in August 2024, received a perfect score in all 14 areas of the evaluation, in part being acknowledged for his “deep understanding of safety protocols.”

Assistant Chief Kevin Green

Green applied for Assistant Chief in 2012, ahead of his retirement from West Palm Beach Fire Department after nearly 30 years, his personnel records show.

He first became a firefighter in 1984, rising through the ranks to Battalion Chief in 2005 and then to West Palm Beach’s Assistant Chief in 2011, which is the title he held when he applied in Delray Beach.

Green’s hiring in June 2012 in Delray Beach marked the first time in more than two decades that the fire department had hired an assistant chief from outside the department. Then-Chief Danielle Connor said in an evaluation that his job knowledge was unmatched.

In his 2014 to 2015 review, then-chief Danielle Connor said he had a “chargeable accident” in his city-issued staff vehicle but no other safety violations.

There were no disciplinary records in the documents obtained by the Sun Sentinel.

City Manager Terrence Moore named Green as Acting Chief in May 2024, when then-chief Tomey was fired.

Division Chief Todd Lynch

Lynch, a U.S. Army veteran, was hired in 1999, holding titles of firefighter/paramedic, driver engineer in 2002, lieutenant in 2005 and battalion chief in 2016 before becoming Division Chief of Training in January 2023, according to personnel records and his biography on the city’s website. He was also assigned as the station captain of the Special Operations Team.

Lynch in July 2015, while a paramedic captain, received a written reprimand from then-City Manager Donald Cooper after a “conflict of interest investigation,” where Lynch was found to have violated city policies and state law related to a company called Games on Fitness. Further details about the investigation were not included in the documents obtained by the South Florida Sun Sentinel.

There were no other disciplinary records included in the documents.

While battalion chief, Lynch updated the department’s policies, most of which were “dated” or lacking altogether, according to an evaluation in 2019, an “enormous and important task” that he was commended for.

In his most recent evaluation from June 2024, Lynch was praised for “revamping the hiring process” and credited with helping the department meet its Insurance Services Office, known as ISO, goals.

He served briefly as the interim Assistant Chief of Operations in 2024, after the previous person retired, personnel records show.

Chief Ronald Martin

Martin took over the fire department in October 2024, hired with a $165,006.40 salary and qualifications that exceeded the requirements.

Martin worked at Fort Myers Beach Fire Control District for 20 years, including holding the title of Fire Chief. He served as the incident commander for Hurricane Ian in 2022 and resigned in March 2023, “for a blend of personal and professional reasons,” he wrote in his application.

After resigning in Fort Myers, Martin from November 2023 to May 2024 was the Deputy Superintendent of Louisiana State Fire Marshal, where he oversaw an $8 million budget and the everyday operations of of the Louisiana Fire and Emergency Training Academy. He held the position at the time he applied for the Delray Beach job.