Paul Bass Photo
Newly promoted firefighter Michael Proto, at left, on the scene of a 2021 Fountain Street fire.
In a sign of generational change at the city’s fire department, New Haven has 12 new fire lieutenants, nine new captains, four new inspectors/investigators, and is looking for a new assistant chief.
The promotions took effect over the past week.
Chief John Alston Jr., who spent three days training the firefighters, said the changes in the ranks reflect the fact that for many years the NHFD did not do much hiring or promoting while it wrestled with a long-running lawsuit that made its way to the U.S. Supreme Court (Ricci v. DeStefano). Now many people promoted after that court decision in 2009 are themselves retiring.
“We’re on the other side of that action. We’re running into this area where a bulk of our folks can retire,” Alston said. “You’re going to see a lot of retirements. You’re going to see a lot of promotions. …
“The upside is that we’re seeing members moving up the ranks that are competent and qualified.”
Alston also has a number-two spot to fill, now that Assistant Chief of Operations Terrence Rountree has chosen to retire. His retirement took effect Monday. Rountree was promoted to the position in June 2021.
Alston said he “absolutely” will be filling Rountree’s slot. He had no timetable set for when. He first needs to review the firefighters’ contract to see whether it requires him to hire from within the department, he said.
The department has two assistant chief positions. Justin McCarthy currently serves as assistant chief of administration.
Alston expects to be filling at least two dozen firefighter positions in the near future.
The newly promoted fire captains are James Carew, Timothy Carney, Ian Cordero, Matthew Ferguson, Christopher Frakl, Thomas Quinn, James Tyer, Wayne Vetre, and Robert Wright. The newly promoted fire lieutenants are Anthony D’Addario, Maurice Edwards, Lawrence Levine, Nicholas Licata, Keith Munsell, Keith Norfleet, Daniel Scotto, Adam Senatro, Mark Starzecki, Matthew Thomas, and Kyle Walker. The new inspector/investigators are Michael Proto, Tomas Reyes, Jeffrey Taylor, and Brandon Sullivan.
There are internal qualified candidates for the assistant chief of operations job in the New Haven fire department. Outside candidates who are old friends of chief Alston from New Jersey need not apply. Lets see if he really means it with her quote in this story; “The upside is that we’re seeing members moving up the ranks that are competent and qualified.”