'The ranks of the very best'

Fire Department celebrates promotions, new inductees with long-delayed ceremony

By DANIEL A. KITTREDGE
Posted 6/17/21

By DANIEL KITTREDGE "Tonight's program is running just a little behind - maybe 13 to 15 months behind," Scott Brown, deacon of the Cranston Fire Department, told those in attendance for last week's promotional and swearing-in ceremony at Cranston High

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'The ranks of the very best'

Fire Department celebrates promotions, new inductees with long-delayed ceremony

Posted

“Tonight’s program is running just a little behind – maybe 13 to 15 months behind,” Scott Brown, deacon of the Cranston Fire Department, told those in attendance for last week’s promotional and swearing-in ceremony at Cranston High School East.

After all, he added: “There was a little snag like a global pandemic.”

Twenty new firefighters from the department’s class of 2019 were celebrated during the event, while more than a dozen others who have been promoted during the past two years were also recognized. Scores of family members, friends and community leaders filled the East auditorium to take part in the occasion.

The department’s newest firefighters, Brown said, are “the best of the best, and they could have worked in any fire department in Rhode Island.”

“They chose to be Cranston firefighters,” he added. “They chose to join the ranks of the very best.”

Chief James Warren, who assumed the department’s top job earlier this year, recognized his immediate predecessors, former chiefs William McKenna and Stephen MacIntosh, who were both in the audience.

He praised the department’s newest firefighters, who were pressed into duty more quickly and in different ways as a result of the pandemic. He noted that the department ran additional rescues and helped vaccinate 4,300 city residents.

The chief also praised the recent promotion recipients, calling them “truly the new leaders on this job.”

“We don’t do this for the glory,” he said. “We do this to help our city’s residents at their most vulnerable moments.”

Brown also gave special recognition to Deputy Chief Paul Casey, the city’s EMS director, who served as emcee of the promotional and swearing-in ceremony.

“There was no way to prepare for COVID-19. The magnitude of the pandemic and the ever-changing guidance and instructions were so challenging to all of us,” Brown said. “Thank God for the leadership of the Cranston surgeon general, Deputy Chief Paul Casey.”

During the course of the ceremony, Casey noted that one of the night’s honorees was absent – but for very good reason.

“We’ve got one scratch from the roster … Private [Joseph] Lang and his wife decided to have a baby tonight,” Casey said, drawing applause and cheers from the audience.

Toward the end of the ceremony, firefighters Matthew Howard and Zachary Kirkwood filled in for Lang, presenting a plaque to the class of 2019’s instructors at the fire academy.

The Rhode Island Professional Firefighters Pipe and Drum Corps led the procession into the night’s ceremony, while the department’s Honor Guard posted the colors. Valerie Remillard sang the national anthem.

Mayor Ken Hopkins and a number of members of the City Council were in attendance for the event.

Promoted officers

Assistant Chief Daniel Marcinko

Deputy Chief Harvey Flanders

Deputy Chief James Woyciechowski

Capt. Robert Nyzio Jr.

Lt. David Brouillard

Lt. Scott Cardon

Lt. Timothy Castelli

Lt. Timothy Colantonio

Lt. David DiDino

Lt. Jason Lee

Lt. Joseph Lupino

Lt. David Neri

Lt. John Nottell Jr.

Lt. Kevin O’Leary

Lt. Nelson Pedro

Lt. Michael Rivelli

Lt. Mark Walsh

Class of 2019 firefighters

Matthew Howard

Michael Morgan

David Northup

Andrew Campbell

Daniel Burke

William Barrett

Andrew Bouchard

Joshua Reid

Michael DiGiulio

Zachary Kirkwood

John Carter

Eugene Benedetti

Michael Igoe

Patrick Igoe

Mason Keach

Joseph Kang

Benjamin Kowalik

Jonathan Vito

Tyler Duffy

Nicholas Zambarano

firefighters, promotions

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