Greenwich Citizen

Warzoha to Change Duties June 30
By Patricia McCormack
Friday, January 07, 2005

First Selectman Jim Lash called a news conference Wednesday to disclose details in a Town Hall case of what appears to having your cake and eating it, too. Fire Chief Dan Warzoha, the subject of the press conference, participated, smiling pleasantly over what was being reported. To wit: Lash announced that Warzoha, a town em-ployee with 31 years under his belt, will retire June 30. However, stepping down to citizen status will not mean the end of Warzoha at Town Hall.

When he becomes citizen Warzoha, he will shift gears

becoming Greenwich emergency management coordinator on a contract basis, reporting to the first selectman. The Town's first and current emergency management coordinator, Paul Connelly, who is not staying on after June 30, reports to Charlee Tufts, head of the Greenwich Emergency Medical Services. The administrative change announced Wednesday puts more power over homeland security directly in the first selectmen's hands instead of dividing it with GEMS administration.

"Dan's extensive experience in disaster operations, as well as his intimate knowledge of the Town of Greenwich, will serve the town well as we move into the next phase of our disaster planning operations," Lash said. Warzoha has worked the last six years as fire chief. Prior to being named chief, he worked for the Department of Public Works. With the DPW, he was involved in numerous sewer system projects, including the construction of the Grass Island Water Pollution Control facility and implementation of the Greenwich inflo/infiltration evaluation survey.

The retiring chief has been in firefighting in Greenwich since 1969. That year he joined the Glenville fire department as a volunteer. He rose through the ranks in Glenville and was named district chief in 1986, a post held until being appointed chief of the department in 1999. Lash noted that since becoming chief, Warzoha has been responsible for numerous improvements to the Fire Department, including the implementation of fire safety training programs such as haz mat training, confined space training, trench rescue and weapons of mass destruction incident command.

Warzoha also was lauded by Lash for taking on the full-time position of volunteer coordinator to the department. This resulted in an increase in volunteer firefighters from 37 to 200. Other noteworthy achievements of Warzoha cited by Lash:

He has been involved in numerous state public safety and disaster-related organizations including president of the Fairfield County Fire Chiefs, Region 1 and coordinator of the state fire and rescue disaster plan.

He was chairman of the Training Committee for the Connecticut Career Fire Chiefs organization.

He has been actively involved in the development of town disaster and emergency plans as well as the town's Emergency Operations Center. He also sits on SWRPA's (South Western Regional Planning Agency) Region l Emergency Planning Operations Group.