Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner Zoë Metcalfe has said she is delighted to appoint Mat Walker as the new Deputy Chief Fire Officer of North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service.
This follows a rigorous interview process which involved the candidates being interviewed by an independent stakeholder panel.
Mat, a 43-year-old father-of-three first joined the Fire and Rescue Service in 2003 in South Yorkshire, moving to National resilience as the Command and Control Advisor where he was involved in the response to a number of major incidents including east coast flooding and the Salisbury Novichok attacks.
He has since worked in a wide range of roles within the West Yorkshire Service, most recently as an Area Manager responsible for Service Assurance and Improvement, before joining North Yorkshire Fire & Rescue Service as the Interim Deputy Chief Fire Officer in June.
Zoë Metcalfe said:
I am delighted to be able to appoint Mat into this permanent role. He faced a strong challenge from an excellent field of candidates but I’m confident he’s the right person to help lead North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service on its continuing transformation.
This is also an exciting time to be joining the Service as we begin to put in place our refreshed plans on how to keep the people of North Yorkshire safe, and feeling safe over the next two years.
I’d also like to thank the other candidates who put themselves forward. They certainly made the selection process a challenging one for the stakeholder and interview panel.
Jonathan Dyson, Chief Fire Officer, said:
We had an excellent field of candidates and I am very grateful for the passion and interest they showed in taking on this significant role and the opportunity to work with me in transforming our Service.
Mat has been with us for a number of months and is already well on his way to being familiar with our Service. It is great to be able to welcome him on permanent basis and I look forward to working closely with him in the coming years.
