City Manager Patrick Roberts on Tuesday announced a new fire chief who will begin work Oct. 1.

Michael J. Barakey has been appointed as the new fire chief, according to a city press release.

Barakey, 44, is currently the district chief for the Virginia Beach Fire Department, and he has been working in fire service since 1993.

“Mike has an impressive and well-rounded history in the fire service and will be an excellent leader for the men and women of Suffolk Fire & Rescue,” Roberts stated in the press release. “I have full confidence that under his leadership, we will remain one of the finest departments in the country.”

In Virginia Beach, Barakey has provided leadership over special operations, personnel and development, communications and information technology, finance and budget, resource management, research and analysis, accreditation and training.

Along with his regular duties, Barakey is a task force leader for VA-TF2, one of 28 National Urban Search and Rescue Teams. With the task force, he has deployed to assist with the Salt Lake City Olympics in 2002, Hurricane Katrina in 2005, the earthquake in Haiti in 2010 and the two hurricanes in Puerto Rico last year.

He is a hazmat specialist, a fire instructor, a nationally registered paramedic and a neonatal and pediatric critical care paramedic for the Children’s Hospital of the King’s Daughters in Norfolk.

Barakey holds a Master of Public Administration degree from Old Dominion University and attended the National Fire Academy’s Executive Fire Officer Program in 2009.

He is also a peer assessor for the Commission on Fire Accreditation International and is designated as Chief Fire Officer by the Center for Public Safety Excellence.

Barakey contributes to Fire Engineering magazine, and he will publish his first book this year. The book is titled “Critical Decision Making: Point-to-Point Leadership in Fire and Emergency Services.”

The new fire chief is married with two children.

Barakey replaces former fire chief Cedric Scott, who announced his resignation earlier this year, effective June 1. Retired Deputy Fire Chief Ed Taylor has been leading the department in the meantime.