DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — The Daytona Beach fire chief is stepping down after 27 years with the city — and his departure comes months after an internal audit raised serious questions about spending inside his department.
Fire Chief Dru Driscoll announced his retirement this week. His final day is July 24, according to the city.
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“For 27 years, it has been my greatest privilege and honor to serve the Daytona Beach Fire Department and the City of Daytona Beach,” Driscoll wrote in his retirement letter.
The city praised his tenure in a statement, saying Driscoll spent 13 years as fire chief guiding the department through “tremendous growth and transformation, while remaining committed to the safety of the community and the well-being of our firefighters.”
$500K audit cloud loomed over his final months
Driscoll’s announcement follows a turbulent stretch for the department he led. In March, the city’s internal auditor released findings from a sweeping review of fire department spending between 2021 and 2025 — and the results drew sharp scrutiny from city commissioners and the public.
The audit flagged more than $500,000 charged to city purchasing cards, known as P-cards, mostly for vehicle repairs and fuel — in violation of city rules. Auditors also identified 14 fire department employees who had city take-home vehicles but kept no mileage logs, making it impossible to confirm whether the vehicles were used for city business or personal use.
Other questionable purchases included more than $50,000 spent on fast food by fire leadership, hundreds of transactions with missing receipts, roughly $50,000 in unexplained technology purchases, and a mix of unusual items — among them 15 televisions, baby shower decorations, and a beer-can cooler.
The audit launched after city employee whistleblowers brought spending concerns to elected officials.
City Commissioner Stacy Cantu said she heard directly from firefighters and the fire union president who shared her concerns.
“There’s no logs kept. That means... we were paying for their insurance, their gas, are we paying for that when they’re not working?” Cantu said.
Driscoll pushed back — hard
When city auditor Abenit Belachew presented his findings to the commission in April, the meeting ran until nearly 2 a.m. Driscoll stood before commissioners and rejected the report’s conclusions.
“The seemingly subjective report furnished by the city auditor unfairly and potentially negligently disparages and brings harmful discredit upon the men and women of the fire department,” Driscoll told the commission.
Belachew said the pushback caught him off guard — and that Driscoll never engaged with the findings before the public meeting. Belachew says he sent the report to both the fire chief and city manager in February and gave them an opportunity to respond. Neither did, he said.
“The message was clear — you need to push back an auditor, you need to question audit findings, not you need to implement corrective action,” Belachew said.
Auditor: This isn’t about fraud — it’s about accountability
Belachew was clear about where his authority ends. He said it’s not his job to declare whether fraud occurred — that’s a matter for the courts. His role, he said, is to flag gaps in oversight.
“Regardless of that amount, the elected people should be concerned of why we are spending a penny without a good reason,” Belachew said.
At least four of the 14 take-home vehicles have since been returned to the city. The state is also conducting a separate audit of the city, expected to wrap up within the coming months.
The city’s internal auditor continues working through reviews of other city departments, with a goal of finishing by end of year.