Onieal Named Deputy U.S. Fire Administrator

Dr. Denis Onieal has been named deputy U.S. Fire Administrator.

He replaces Glenn Gaines who died last month of a heart attack while mowing his lawn. 

Onieal, Superintendent of the National Fire Academy for the past 20 years, was the former acting chief in Jersey City. 

Deputy Superintendent Kirby Kiefer will assume Onieal's position while a nationwide search is conducted.

Onieal could not be reached for comment Tuesday afternoon.

Remembering his friend during a service last month, Onieal said: "He was as talented and comfortable crawling down the hallway of a burning tenement as he was meeting the President in the Oval Office. Glenn changed America in ways that no one at the United States Fire Administration ever did, and probably no one ever will.  Others may expand it or improve it in the future, but Glenn made it happen."

• Interview from January issue of Firehouse magazine

Onieal added that his friend always thought outside the box. Even though budgets were being cut, Gaines said firefighters needed to grasp the opportunity and shine.

"Glenn had a vision of America’s fire service that few did.  He knew that the path wasn’t about talking; it was about doing.  And he did some remarkable things – from organizing and implementing the model grants program in the United States government, to firefighter safety, technological innovation, education and policy implementation. Glenn set the vision, organized the engines, built the road and pushed us down the highway.  He did that while others couldn’t see that far, or that fast."