Lewisville Assistant Fire Chief Mark McNeal has been selected to become fire chief of the Lewisville Fire Department, city officials announced in a news release April 2.

McNeal will take over the post, which became vacant in January when Fire Chief Timothy Tittle died of cancer after working for the fire department for more than 40 years.

“I am grateful to Chief Tittle for seeing something in me and giving me the opportunity to develop," McNeal stated in the release. “I am humbled to be given this opportunity, and [I] look forward to serving the men and women of the Lewisville Fire Department and the people of our community.”

McNeal, who has been a firefighter for more than 28 years, first began working for the Lewisville Fire Department in 1992 as a firefighter and an emergency medical technician. He was later promoted to assistant chief of operations in 2014.

“Mark McNeal is a dedicated public servant that led our department through the heartbreaking loss of our chief and now the challenge of COVID-19,” City Manager Donna Barron stated in the release. “He has proven to me that he is a true servant [and] leader dedicated to the Lewisville Fire Department and the Lewisville community.”