Retiring Nw Haven fire chief Dennis Daniels reflects on 27-year career

Retiring city fire chief reflects on 27-year career

William Kaempffer, Register Staff

December 31, 2002

NEW HAVEN — Dennis Daniels is not one to discuss personal legacies or rattle off accomplishments.

After five years as the city’s fire chief and 27 years with the department, Daniels said he simply wants to be remembered "as a fair man, as a fair chief."

Then, as if searching for the right words, he added, "I’m not one to toot my own horn. I try to let my works speak for me."

There was apparent sadness in his voice Monday as he talked about leaving the men and women whom he described as his second family.

Earlier this month, the 54-year-old resigned from the department’s top post. His last official day at work is today, although he barely started packing up a decade’s worth of possessions at Fire Headquarters.

A dozen family pictures still lined a bureau behind his desk. And a career’s worth of memorabilia filled cabinets and shelves throughout his office at 952 Grand Ave.

Sitting in his office, he reflected on 27 years with the fire service and changes on the job.

Like most firefighters, Daniels still remembered his first big fire even though it occurred in his first year on the job.

It started out routine — a one-alarm house fire. But a few hours later, he responded to a two-alarm job.

The inside stairwell was burned out, so they placed a ladder inside to the second floor. A fire officer ordered him to foot the ladder as they went up.

"All I could remember was the hot water pouring down on my head and the debris," he said. It provoked a moment of reflection. "Every (rookie) asks the same question — what the heck am I doing here?"

After 27 years, he said he has few regrets. Every fire brought a sense of purpose and accomplishment, he said, a continuation of the rush of pride that overcame him the first time he rode on a fire truck.

One regret is that his mother Violet never got to witness him achieve his career goal.

"Right before I became chief, she passed away so she never got to see me reach that goal."

Early in his career, Daniels privately talked with mentors about his desire to climb the advancement ladder but believed he’d have to leave for another department to become chief.

"I felt that in New Haven that might not occur because of the politics. But I felt that I’d become chief someplace."

Then, in 1990, the Mayor John C. Daniels appointed Earl Geyer as New Haven’s first black chief.

"I raised my eyebrow and said, ‘Wow, it is possible,’" Daniels said.

Daniels was born in 1948 in New Haven and grew up in Hamden. After attending college, he enlisted in the Air Force in 1970. He figured if he enlisted before he was drafted, he "could choose his own destiny."

Daniels never aspired to be a fireman and always envisioned himself in some business profession.

It was his wife Jackie who suggested working at the fire department. Her brother was a New Haven detective and she steered Daniels away from that profession because she thought it was too dangerous.

In September 1975, he was hired. In 1982, he was promoted to lieutenant.

In 1992, he was appointed assistant chief of operations and in 1996 the department’s executive officer. He became the chief in 1997 when then-Chief Martin O’Connor retired.

Assistant Fire Chief Ronald Dumas, one of Daniels’ closest friends in the service, said Daniels’ decision to leave was "devastating."

"He wasn’t only my boss. He was my friend. That made coming to work all the more worthwhile," he said. "Up close, I’ve been able to see the essence of a leader who was challenged at every turn but who remained deeply committed to his profession and to the men and women of the New Haven Fire Department."

Devoutly religious, Daniels serves as a deacon at his church, Rehoboth Church of God in Christ in Bridgeport. It is in his faith that he defines himself. The screen saver in his office reads "Jesus Christ is Lord."

He describes himself as a "servant" in two senses, to God and to the public of New Haven as a firefighter.

His son, Kyle-Hashim Daniels, followed his father into the department in 1995 and was promoted to lieutenant in 1999. However, it was the younger Daniels’ ordination as an elder in the church that most struck his father.

"I told him his ordination meant more to me that seeing him promoted to lieutenant."

It is this same faith that helped him weather bad times at the department.

In recent years, the city’s fiscal difficulties put the department’s finances under the microscope, and some members of the department have been critical of his leadership.

Daniels pines for a past era when more firefighters viewed the profession as a career and not just a job, and when pride in service instilled a work ethic that carried people through their careers.

He said he hoped he brought integrity and honesty to the chief’s office.

"I had some bad days but my good days outweighed the bad days," he said. "I truly say it has been a wonderful 27 years with the city."

While he’ll miss the camaraderie and the men and women of the department, he said he’s "at peace" with his decision to retire.

"This was something that had been weighing on my mind. Maybe you could say it was weariness," Daniels said. "If I had it to do all over again, I’d do it in a heartbeat."

William Kaempffer can be reached at wkaempffer@nhregister.com, or 789-5727.