Monroe County Hires New Emergency Management Director

KEY LARGO – Monroe County hired the City of Jacksonville’s former Director of Emergency Preparedness and former Director of Fire and Rescue Martin Senterfitt as its new Emergency Management Director. He will replace Irene Toner, who is retiring after 17 years in the position.

“We are incredibly fortunate to be able to hire a person with so much professionalism and with so much experience and expertise in emergency management,” County Administrator Roman Gastesi said. “Marty has done it all – responding to hurricanes, wildfires, floods, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill and the H1N1 Virus outbreak. He even played a key organization role for the 2005 Super Bowl.”

Senterfitt, 49, has worked for the City of Jacksonville for 28 years, starting as a firefighter and working his way up the ranks, serving as the Director of Duval County Emergency Preparedness and Director/Fire Chief of Jacksonville Fire and Rescue. He will retire from the City next month.

Senterfitt, a certified Florida Professional Emergency Manager, begins with Monroe County on May 16 and will have six weeks to work with Toner before she retires on June 30.

“I am incredibly excited to be part of such a wonderful team and come here to the Keys to continue my career in emergency management,” said Senterfitt, who has a wife, Missy, and three adult children. “We look forward to being part of the community.”
As Director of Jacksonville Fire and Rescue, Senterfitt created, managed and executed a $210 million budget and led 1,300 employees. He developed strategic goals and objectives for the organization, ensuring the Mayor’s vision was institutionalized throughout the organization. And, he had direct oversight of the Emergency Management Director and Emergency Preparedness program.

As Director of Emergency Preparedness, he was responsible for overseeing all Emergency Management functions, including preparedness, response, recovery, mitigation and Homeland Security. He led the city’s Emergency Operations Center in all disaster activations. He oversaw administration of numerous grants and he led a Nationally Accredited (EMAP) Emergency Management program through the Reaccreditation process in 2010.

Senterfitt has extensive disaster experience, including deployments to other states to represent the Florida Emergency Operations Center.

He received a Master of Public Administration from the University of North Florida in 2005, a Bachelor of Science in Liberal Arts from Excelsior University in 2003 and an Associate of Science in Fire Science Technology from Florida State College Jacksonville in 2002.

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