Markeshia Ricks Photo
Chief Black in the pre-game huddle.
After enduring more than two years of testing and seven long months of learning life-saving and blaze-battling skills, 14 men woke up today wearing a new title: firefighter.
With their friends and family watching, the men took their oath of office at Hill Career Regional High School Tuesday night and got to shake hands with their new leader, interim Chief Ralph Black.
Black, on day two of the job, gave the recruits a private pep talk before the ceremony. He said during the ceremony that their hard work and dedication had helped them make it through the training academy. And he said that same hard work and dedication will help them have good careers in the fire service.
“Your dedication and hard work are what have gotten you to this point,” he said. “It will bring you further in this job. There will be plenty of opportunities. I will be there, the city will be there, and there will be a lot of people there to support you. Just put in that hard work and dedication and things will fall into place.”
Not many people had more people in the audience cheering them on than Class 59 President Tomas B. Reyes.
Reyes (at center of photo) is the son of Mayor Toni Harp’s chief of staff, Tomas Reyes Jr. (pictured to his immediate right) and La Voz Hispana publisher Norma Rodriguez (to his left).
The elder Reyes beamed with pride for not only his son’s accomplishment, but also his boss’s accomplishment. “This is fantastic,” he said. “It means that all of the great work the mayor is doing is paying off.” The class is the latest to graduate as the city has been filling ranks to cut down on overtime costs.
The younger Reyes traded fighting blight with the city’s Livable City Initiative to fight fires because of his dream of being a firefighter. His former boss, LCI Deputy Director of Housing Code Enforcement Rafael Ramos, was on hand Tuesday night to shake his hand.
Reyes, who has been assigned to Engine 10 on Lombard Street, told the audience Tuesday night that Class 59 started out as a group of strangers. Their hard work at the fire academy turned them into teammates and friends, he said.
He said this next phase of their careers will only solidify these early bonds and make them family.
“We will be brothers and sisters, unified and striving for that supreme purpose for this department,” he said.
Capt. Frank Ricci, Local 825 union president and academy drillmaster, called the firefighter oath one of the “greatest act[s] of bravery that they will ever” make.
It is an act that he Ricci said comes with a lot of personal sacrifice for the individual firefighter as well as their families. He outlined what the sacrifice will look like going forward.
“Their career is beginning today, and your sacrifice is beginning today,” he said. “It is extremely difficult to be the support system for a firefighter. Chief Black gave me all of your work schedules, and I’m going to share them with you. Christmas: they’re working. New Year’s Eve: they’re working. Your anniversary: they’re working. Your kid’s first day of school — well they work nights that night. But they’re going to get stuck on alarm and they’re working.”
Class 59 graduates are: Jeff O’Neil; Rob Walker; Mike Salzillo; Justin Kubek; Tomas B. Reyes; Matthew Muolo; Robert Glynn; Tyler Punzo; Dan Kisluk: Brandon Sulivan; Dan Scotto; Brett McCarthy; Johnathan Kendall; and Mike Bianchi.
EMS Supervisor Kenneth Oliver pins a member of Class 59.
On behalf of the New Haven Scholarship Fund I would like to Congratulate the 14 members of Class 59 upon the completion of your training and becoming members of the New Haven Fire Department. Your commitment, strength, and your generosity are only part of what will make you exceptional Firefighters. The people of the City of New Haven continue to be thankful for the service
of all our brave men and women firefighters.
Thank you,
Jeff Alpert
President
New Haven Scholarship Fund