Mayor Street appointed Ayers, who turns 53 tomorrow, as acting commissioner effective Aug. 1, replacing Commissioner Harold B. Hairston, who retired after nearly 40 years service. Managing Director Philip R. Goldsmith handled the oath of office and then briefly spoke. Goldsmith was followed to the podium in the Mayor's Reception Room by Street who lauded Ayers' years of service and his performanace while in the acting capacity.
"He has performed in a spectacular fashion," said Street.
Ayers became a firefighter in 1974. He commands a 2,400 member uniformed force in a department which is the fifth largest in the country.
He is the department's second African American fire commissioner. Hairston was the first.
The new commissioner and his wife live in Andorra. The couple has six chidren.
