BRIDGEPORT — The last thing Fire Chief Brian Rooney might have wanted was a City Hall reception, but members of the department he led for 10 years insisted on a chance to say thank you.
So Rooney, his wife Adrianna, and their two grown children greeted well-wishers and listen to a proclamation declaring Friday “Chief Brian Rooney Day” in Bridgeport.
The 44-year department veteran has completed the two five-year terms the City Charter sets as a limit, and Rooney will work his last day on Tuesday.
Since he joined the city fire department in August, 1972, and answered his first call, five Bridgeport firefighters have died in the line of duty, Rooney said.
Others have died from heart attacks and the department will bury popular firefighter Jimmie Jones on Saturday. Jones died in a car crash last weekend.
Rooney was visibly moved in recalling the fallen members of his department Friday, just as Deputy Chief Dom Carfi, Rooney’s good friend, choked up while addressing the audience of about 30 people.
“He is one of the greatest leaders the city of Bridgeport has ever known,” Carfi said. “When he started, it wasn’t unusual to have three or four house fires a day. Arson was rampant. ‘Baptism by fire’ is a real thing.”
Mayor Joe Ganim said Rooney was instrumental in starting the Safe Asleep program that, in a partnership with Regional Youth Adult Social Action Partnership, has handed out 50,000 free smoke detectors to city residents over the past 10 years.
“Think of all the lives saved just from that,” Ganim said.
The open chief’s position has already been advertised, the mayor said, and while he said he expects to appoint an interim chief soon, a Civil Service test will be administered and a committee will winnow down the eight top candidates, giving Ganim three names to choose from.
As for Rooney, his immediate plans are “to stop and smell the roses”
“I’m learning what that expression means,” he said. “We’ll probably travel at some point.’’
While he said he enjoyed the reception, “I’m the kind of guy who would like to just walk out the back door and that’s it,” Rooney said. “I didn’t expect this, but I owe the city more than it paid me over the years.’’
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