Costa Mesa celebrates fire department promotions

Community members, city officials, family and friends packed into the Costa Mesa City Council chambers Friday for a ceremony honoring the promotion of seven fire department staffers.

Justin Horner, Gary Lilly and Chuck Torres were promoted to captains. Danial Bangle, Travis Johnson and Kevin Reddy were promoted to engineers, and Corey Brean was officially pinned as a firefighter.

During the ceremony, the wife or family member of an employee placed a pin on the employee’s uniform, signifying the individual’s promotion to the next rank.

The ceremony is a longstanding tradition within the department.

Originally, the event was held at individual firehouses, but two years ago, department leaders decided they wanted to open the ceremony to the community, said Fire Chief Dan Stefano.

“It’s really to share a very special moment in the career of each of these individuals with the entire community,” he said.

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Twitter: @HannahFryTCN