Boston Fire Chief Steve Abraira , whose deputy chiefs criticized him over his handling of the Boston Marathon bombings , has submitted his resignation , the Boston Fire Department said Monday on its official Twitter account . Abraira 's resignation is effective Friday . In an April 26 letter to Boston Mayor Thomas Menino , 13 deputy fire chiefs said they had no confidence in Abraira , asserting that he failed to assume command responsibility or show any leadership at the scene . `` At a time when the city of Boston needed every first responder to take decisive action , Chief Abraira failed to get involved in operational decision-making or show any leadership , '' the letter read . CNN obtained the letter from a deputy chief who signed it but requested anonymity . In the letter , the deputies describe an e-mail that Abraira sent to all department members , saying that when he arrived at the scene , `` it was clear that our Command Officer had the incident well in hand and that our department was fully active in a support role with our law enforcement partners . '' The deputies call Abraira 's argument `` illogical '' and `` mere rationalization to justify his behavior , '' saying that when Abraira arrived , the Boston Fire Department was `` still heavily involved in the incident '' because of the possibility of `` second explosions , '' `` additional suspicious packages '' and `` structural stability concern of buildings , '' among other issues . Boston fire chief gets vote of 'no confidence ' in handling of bombings . But Abraira defended his actions to CNN . `` In their estimation , they believe that if you do n't assume command , you do n't have responsibility there for what goes on , '' he said . `` I tried to explain to them , if I 'm on the scene , I 'm still responsible . That 's it . But they do n't believe it . '' The chief told The Boston Globe that he was comfortable with the way his commanders were handling the incident . `` The nationally accepted practice is that you only take command ( as chief ) if there 's something going wrong or if you can strengthen the command position or if it 's overwhelming for the incident commander , and none of those things were in fact happening , '' he told the paper . Two bombs exploded at the finish line of the marathon on April 15 , killing 3 and injuring more than 260 others . One of two bombing suspects , Tamerlan Tsarnaev , died after a gunfight with authorities four days later . After much secrecy and protest , he was buried in a rural Virginia cemetery . Police took his brother , Dzhokhar Tsarnaev , into custody on April 19 after finding him hiding in a boat in the backyard of a Watertown , Massachusetts , home . He has been charged with using a weapon of mass destruction and malicious destruction of property causing death and is in federal custody .
Boston Police Chief John Abraira resigned after deputies sigh letter of no confidence . ' ` ` failed to ... show any leadership '' at Boston Marathon bombings , deputy chiefs say . Abraira defended his actions , saying his trusted the command ##os on the phone .