By Staff Shore News
Published on 9/7/2006
Shore Publishing - Madison,CT
East Haven- Between the State of Connecticut and the federal government, there are hundreds of fire safety regulations, covering everything from the placement of fire extinguishers to issuing blasting permits; and in East Haven, the man to see to unravel those hundreds of codes is Fire Marshal Tony Moscato.
“Around 1950 the state started requiring towns to have a fire marshal to enforce state fire safety codes, and also investigate the cause and origin of fires. We also handle the HazMat regulations, that is, flammable and combustible liquids, hazardous materials,” he says.
Reviewing plans for new buildings and inspecting ones already been built take up most of his time. With the exception of one and two family private homes, just about every structure in the town must be inspected to ensure that they are up to code and pose no fire hazard.
“Reviewing the plans are very important,” he says. “If a building doesn't meet code when it's first built, it only becomes more difficult.”
He sees a lot of violations in older buildings, mostly because “years ago they didn't have the training or the codes that they have now. They relied more on the architects and engineers to know what to do.” However, the codes are so complex, it's hard even for the professionals to know them all.
“There's hardly a new building plan that I see that doesn't have at least one violation,” he says.
The job doesn't stop there: the fire marshal is also the deputy chief, third in command of the fire department and the firehouse. These days, firefighters respond to an ever-widening array of emergencies.
“In addition to responding to fires we deal with floods, hurricanes, and since 9/11 we've responded to HazMat incidents like suspicious powders,” Tony says. “We handle incidents that at sea, too.”
One of the more dramatic response calls took place just three weeks ago.
“We rescued a father and son from a sailboat that had run aground on a reef,” he says. “It was myself, Chief Jackson, and my brother Angelo in a Boston Whaler. It was a little rough out there–25 mph winds, waves were over three feet high. At first the man wanted to wait it out. He refused to leave his boat.”
The Coast Guard, Sea Tow, and Fire Department all turned back to shore, but then the weather worsened.
“The man finally called to come in, and by this time the Coast Guard thought we'd have to bring in a helicopter from Cape Cod or Long Island. It was going to take about an hour, but now the man wasn't going to wait that long. He wanted to get into the little dinghy he had, which, with the size of the waves, would not have gone too well.
“We saw that and the chief and I decided we needed to make a move. We called to the Coast Guard. They came in as close as they could with their big boat, and we went in with the Whaler brought him and his son in.”
Tony says he decided early in life that he wanted to be a firefighter.
“If you look in my high school yearbook,” he says, laughing, “it says 'wants to be a fireman.'”
His father urged him to go to college, so he went to Southern and became a substitute teacher, “But,” he says, “I also joined the volunteers.”
After a few years some friends at the department suggested that Tony take the test to become a full time firefighter.
“I did, and now I've been with the department for 28 years. I liked working with the kids, but I get to do that now, too,” Tony says.
Another one of Tony's duties is teaching fire safety and prevention.
“I devote the whole month of October to fire safety. We go around to all the elementary schools, and also to some of the senior citizen sites.”
The kids love the visits by the Fire Department and their mascots, Pluggie the Fireplug and Sparky the Firedog. He gets the word out as often as possible.
“I also try to reach people with newspaper articles to increase awareness of fire safety and prevention,” he notes.
For the man who wears many fire hats, “it's all about keeping people safe and healthy any way I can.”