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Kenney names fire and prison commissioners

Mayor Kenney turned to Virginia for a new fire commissioner, but is staying in house for the city's next prison leader.

Mayor Kenney turned to Virginia for a new fire commissioner, but is staying in house for the city's next prison leader.

Blanche Carney, a 21-year veteran of the Philadelphia Prison System and its current deputy commissioner for restorative and transitional services, will be named the city's first female prison commissioner, according to Kenney's communications office. Adam Thiel, Virginia's deputy secretary of veterans affairs and homeland security, will be the city's next fire commissioner.

Kenney will formally announce the picks at a Tuesday afternoon news conference.

Carney, who has a master's degree in social work from Bryn Mawr College, manages the literacy, life skills, and vocational programs available to inmates. Before becoming a deputy commissioner in 2015, Carney served as the system's human services program administrator. She also oversaw the program known as Options that provides drug- and alcohol-addiction treatment to inmates.

Carney, 45, started as a foster-care social worker in the 1990s, and working with children whose parents were incarcerated piqued her interest in prisons, according to an article in Bryn Mawr's alumni newsletter.

She is stepping into a job last held by Louis Giorla, who retired in January after 33 years with the city's prison system. Mike Resnick, director of public safety under Mayor Michael Nutter, has held the post in the interim.

Carney will take charge of an overcrowded prison system with 8,000 inmates held in six prison facilities along the Delaware in the Northeast and several satellite sites.

Thiel, formerly the fire chief of Alexandria, Va., has worked in fire and emergency services in four states. Thiel, 43, participated in response and recovery efforts from the Sept. 11 attacks; Hurricanes Gustav and Isabel; and multiple blizzards.

The mayor's office said Thiel's experience would allow him to bring the best practices from across the country to Philadelphia. He will take charge of a department with 63 stations and more than 2,200 firefighters, paramedics, and EMTs.

In his current job, Thiel helps manage 11 state agencies with more than 30,000 employees and a combined budget of more than $3 billion, according to the mayor's office.

He will replace Fire Commissioner Derrick Sawyer, who was appointed two years ago by Nutter.

tnadolny@phillynews.com

@TriciaNadolny 215-854-2730