Retiring firefighter showed the way

NOELLE FRAMPTON
ConnPost Article Last Updated: 08/01/2008 11:49:31 PM EDT

MILFORD — When Gary Guilmette joined the Milford Fire Department in 1977, firefighters used painstakingly hand-drawn maps to navigate the city.

Now, thanks to Guilmette, they use a sophisticated, computerized system that tells firefighters how a building is made and where the nearest hydrants are, and inputs satellite images to fire stations and vehicles that can zoom in on individual buildings.

"This is going to save somebody's life someday," said Acting Capt. Christopher Zak, fire department spokesman. "This is the playbook before the call. It's come from nothing."

Guilmette, nursing a cup of coffee, quietly fought back tears Friday as his co-workers ate cake in his honor and shook his hand on his last day at work.

After 31 years as a city firefighter, Guilmette, 57, of East Haven, is sad and a bit scared to leave.

But he'll return once a week to pass on his knowledge to his replacement, firefighter Jason Hall.

"We have the premier program when it comes to these things," said Hall, expressing his admiration for Guilmette.

The department uses a program called First Look Pro that provides details — both in stations and on fire vehicles — about individual structures and what they're made of, hazardous materials in the area, who to call in case of emergency, and more. It coordinates with a map program that shows an aerial view of city layout and locations of fire trucks and engines.

It helps a lot, Zak said, especially because some shorefront homes have street addresses that exist only on paper. He said the department is working toward a system that will document the locations of various chemicals and combine that information with a weather report to help firefighters determine risks — like whether a chemical could be blown by the wind to a certain area.

Guilmette, also the first city firefighter to pass the fitness test, said he started developing the computerized system in Milford in 1994, at an assistant chief's request.

Milford has been using some version of it for about a decade, while some other towns have just begun, he said.

"He set the pace, not only here in Milford but in the state," said Fire Chief Louis LaVecchia, who joined the department with him.

LaVecchia praised both Guilmette and firefighter Barry Busk, who retired July 24 after 21 years, saying they'd done outstanding work.

"It's always tough to see guys leaving," he said.

Busk followed in the footprints of his father, a department member for 25 years, and retired after 21 years with the department, most recently as the assigned driver of Engine 5 in Woodmont. Guilmette said he loved his job and the men he worked with, and looks forward to helping on a canteen truck run by retirees — "fondly referred to as 'dinosaurs.' "

He designed a patch for them, complete with a dinosaur, and now he'll get to wear it.

"All the memories are good memories," he said. "Tomorrow's a change of life."

Pat Hoppes, the chief's secretary, dabbed away her tears on Friday as she remembered how Guilmette had always been a patient, "soft-spoken gentleman" who was ready to help with any office computer problem.

After his goodbye party, he stood in front of the giant city map at fire headquarters and explained to Zak how he'd ripped off five old layers that had begun to wrinkle and put up the new map that day, a sort of punctuation mark to his topographical legacy.

On the lower right corner of the map, it says, "goodbye."