Navarre Beach Fire and Rescue Chief Danny Fureigh is no longer employer by the fire district after he was into custody April 30 on charges he violated the terms of probation handed down in February by testing positive for cocaine.
Navarre Beach Fire District officials declined to say whether Fureigh was fired or left on his own. The board held an emergency meeting May 1 to discuss his employment and will convene again May 5 to name an interim chief.
Fureigh was placed on one year of probation on Feb. 13 following his arrest in September on DUI charges that were reduced to reckless driving. He was taken into custody after being pulled over on State Road 87 traveling 70 mph in a 45 mph zone, the Santa Rosa County Sheriff’s Office report said.
“The driver stated he had been drinking,” the report said.
A warrant filed by probation officer Nina Williams states that Fureigh had “failed to refrain from use of intoxicants” during his probation period and had tested positive for cocaine during an April 2 screening. An independent lab confirmed the positive test a week later, the warrant said.
The warrant states Fureigh had failed to truthfully answer by denying his cocaine use and that he had failed to attend a mandatory drunk driving impact panel conducted by Mothers Against Drunk Drivers.
Jail documents indicate that Fureigh was to be held at the Santa Rosa County Jail without bond following the arrest.
An agenda that appears on the Navarre Beach Fire District website indicates an emergency meeting was held at 5 p.m., May 1 at the Utility Drive fire department headquarters. The single item listed on the form was “Chief Danny Fureigh’s Employment.”
“As of the District’s Friday, May 1, 2026 meeting, the District will be moving to identify and appoint an interim Fire Chief in advance of a search for the District’s next permanent Fire Chief,” it said. “The Navarre Beach Fire Rescue District is thankful for Fire Chief Fureigh’s service.”
The agenda for the scheduled May 5 meeting, to be held at 4:30 p.m. at the same location, lists the single topic of discussion as “Interim Fire Chief.”
Keith Lang, the chairman of the Navarre Beach Fire District Board of Fire Commissioners, did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment. The District issued a statement late Monday morning.
The statement released shortly before 11 a.m., directed all inquiries to Board of Fire Commissioners Vice Chairperson Shelley Brummett.
“The district will continue, as it has done, to provide uninterrupted services for the protection of lifeand property in its district,” the statement said.
Fureigh was promoted to chief of the Navarre Beach Fire Department in 2017 following six years on the force. He has been a firefighter for 33 years and a paramedic for 22 years and served as a battalion chief for both the Fort Walton Beach Fire Department and in Walton County.
The chief’s removal from office comes at a time when the Fire District is battling to change its ordinances to reclassify about 1,200 of the island’s short-term rental properties as transient public lodging establishments.
The reclassification would allow the district to charge a rate of 44 cents per square foot on homes deemed “non-residential,” boosting the annual fire assessment fee to $1,100 for a 2,500-square-foot home, $1,540 for a 3,500-square-foot home and $2,200 for a 5,000-square-foot home.
Fureigh said the $500,000 that would be raised by the adjustment would help him to add staff at the Fire Department, which he said is the lowest paid local department.
This article originally appeared on Pensacola News Journal: Navarre Beach Fire Chief Danny Fureigh out after violating probation
Reporting by Tom McLaughlin, Pensacola News Journal / Pensacola News Journal
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