Assistant fire chief followed own career path

12/03/2006

By William Kaempffer , Register Staff

NEW HAVEN — There was a rule when Ralph Black Jr. was growing up. "The unspoken rule is you're going to college and after that it's your choice," recalled Black, sitting in his third-floor office at Fire Department headquarters. Black got his degree in business economics but already knew what he wanted to do and it wasn't Wall Street.

"Before I went to college, I wanted to be in the state police or fire department," he said.

Nineteen years later, Black is the assistant fire chief, heading operations for the city Fire Department, a position he never envisioned reaching when he started on the job.

"There are so many qualified people on the job," he said. "I was hoping to make rank someday. If I could make lieutenant, I would have been happy and anything else is icing on the cake."

Black made lieutenant in 1996, then captain and then battalion chief.

Hindsight tells him that he made the right decision in his career path.

It's often said police typically encounter people at their worst but, in the fire service, people usually are grateful to see the engines arrive.

"The fire side fits me a little better and it was a good choice in hindsight," Black said.

This spring, he tested for assistant chief and had the top score, a profoundly proud achievement, he said, given the caliber of people he competed against.

"I'm working with people who have been doing this job for years, and the command staff here is second to none," he said. The hardest part of the transition to his new post was when he suddenly was in charge over colleagues who had outranked him a day before, he said.

Their outspoken support made that transition easier but, he acknowledged, at times it can be "uncomfortable."

There was a transition for his family too, now that he is on call 24 hours a day.

His new schedule has its benefits. He can now make it to more practices and games with his children, Sarah, 12, and Christian, 10. He coaches football and baseball with his son and softball with his daughter. The 2 a.m. departures from their North Haven home to go to fire scenes, however, has taken some getting used to for his wife, Anne, he said.

Black joined the department in 1987. His 22-member academy class was half minority and brought the department to a diversity level that satisfied a 1976 federal court order requiring 75 members of minority groups on the 400-member force.

The department since has become more diverse but bitter racial tensions still occasionally erupt in firehouses and courtrooms.

Sitting in his office, Black's affection for his profession and department were obvious. He spoke of the value of working toward a common goal and the ability of firefighters to set aside personal differences when emergency calls come in. People can and do work together and put all other distractions aside, he said.

Before the promotional exam for assistant chief, he and two other candidates competing for the same job, Deputy Chief John Marquez and Battalion Chief Thomas Holman, studied together and quizzed each other.

"It doesn't get more diverse than that group," he said. Black is black, Marquez is Hispanic and Holman is white.

Inside the department, Black has enjoyed the support of the rank and file. He's viewed as a firefighter's firefighter and, as one lieutenant put it, a "stand-up guy."

That's not to say there haven't been rough times.

Six days after Black was promoted, Ilvan "Pito" Rodriguez slipped under the water on the Quinnipiac River, sparking a large-scale rescue and later a recovery operation. Black was a point person in dealing with the family, trying to keep them updated on what was and wasn't happening and why. After the young man's body was found, Black brought the father to identify the remains.

"It was a tough week, probably more emotionally than physically, making sure I was doing everything I should," he recalled. "Just the nature of the call, it was very emotional."

You go home, hug your children and go back the next day, Black said.