Toronto Fire Chief Matthew Pegg retiring this October

Toronto Fire Chief Matthew Pegg has announced he will be retiring this October.

Pegg, who was also the General Manager of Emergency Management through the COVID-19 pandemic, made the announcement on his X account Friday morning.

“There has not been a single day when I have not been immensely proud to wear the Toronto Fire Services uniform, and to serve alongside this incredible team of 3,265 professionals,” read his statement.

Pegg has spent 32 years in active service as a firefighter and spent the last eight as fire chief after being appointed to the role in 2016, adding he is deeply appreciative that he’s able to retire healthy.

As the lead of the Emergency Management team, Pegg was appointed as Toronto’s COVID-19 incident commander in March of 2020 and was a central figure during the daily updates, ensuring systems were in place to manage the availability of personal protective equipment (PPE) for emergency responders and frontline workers while helping to coordinate the city’s overall response to the COVID-19 emergency.

He returned to serving as fire chief in March of 2022.

Pegg said while he hopes to share more thoughts and reflections later, Pegg wanted to “extend my sincere appreciation for the extraordinary privilege of serving as your Fire Chief.

Mayor Olivia Chow thanked Pegg for his leadership in a social media post. “It’s been an honour to work alongside you,” read the post on X. “We are all grateful for your years of service in keeping Toronto safe.”

His last day will be Oct. 4.