West Haven may have its first black fire chief

West Haven may have its first black fire chief

Joe McGurk, Register Staff

May 10, 2001

WEST HAVEN — A retired New Haven Fire Department lieutenant may become this city’s first black fire chief.

Fire commissioners recommended Elmer Henderson Wednesday to lead the Allingtown Fire Department. Henderson would replace Richard Massaro, who resigned in December following allegations of racial bias.

Henderson would be the first black chief in any West Haven fire department if he accepts the job offer, and would be the city’s only full-time minority fire department employee.

Henderson was chosen after the department’s Board of Commissioners interviewed nine local and regional candidates.

“As a majority commission we decided Mr. Henderson was the particular candidate who would best fit the needs of the department,” said Allingtown fire commission Chairman Aaron Haley. Haley declined to say which of the three commissioners supported Henderson.

“He’s someone from the outside who is knowledgeable about running a department. He provides experience,” Haley said. “The guy has all the pluses we need.”

Carroll Brown, president of the West Haven Black Coalition, said this is “a very positive move, because this man comes with a lot of experience. I got to know him after I heard an African American had applied for the job, and he has really been following what has been happening in our district.”

Deputy Fire Chief Victor Sampietro, who has been with the department 26 years and has been running the department since Massaro resigned, was not asked to fill the slot.

The decision came late Wednesday after commissioners met with Sampietro.

“It was a real tough decision,” Haley said. “Sampietro has been doing an outstanding job in the position, but at this time we feel Henderson was more suited for the department.”

The commission last fall found that Massaro “violated the public trust” and practiced “unethical behavior,” according to an investigation into allegations he uttered racial slurs at work.

The commissioners charged Massaro with insubordination, dereliction of duty, conduct unbecoming an officer, and making an immoral statement after they investigated a recording of a man making racial slurs against Allingtown residents.

After 25 years with the department, Massaro retired with a disability pension of $39,590 a year before facing a disciplinary hearing.

The conversation was recorded and delivered anonymously to the New Haven Register in October.

Massaro earned $70,278 yearly as chief. Massaro worked only two years of his last 10-year contract. Like all firefighters, Massaro will receive paid medical benefits for life.

Massaro said in an earlier interview that he did not remember taking part in the taped conversation, in which a man refers to the “eight years that I ran this place as chief,” and refers six times to the residents of Allingtown as “niggers.”

Haley said the final choice for chief will go before the commission for an official vote. No date has been set.

Details of Henderson’s resume were not available Wednesday, nor were the details of a contract the department will offer.

Sampietro is deputy chief of the department, one of three separate departments that cover the city. Officials from each department said they have struggled to recruit more black firefighters.

The city’s only black firefighter, 25-year veteran Lionel Dunlap, retired last year.