NORWICH – As of Monday, Norwich City Fire Chief John M. Tighe’s life changed dramatically.
“Since I was 14 years old, I’ve never not had a job. It’s a little scary knowing I’ll wake up in the morning and not have one,” he said. That day has come, but on the last day of his six-and-a-half year tenure, he spoke about his experience in Norwich, the state of the department and the future of firefighting.
Tighe may have ended what was a 33-year career in the field this week, having spent the last leg of the journey as head of a department that boasts 20 paid workers, 15 of whom are full time, and more than 100 volunteers. He began his career in 1972 as a volunteer firefighter in the Village of Horseheads, and one of the first working disasters of his career was a major flood in the upstate municipality. The last major undertaking for his Norwich department was the record flooding this June. It started and ended with high water.
“It’s funny how messages are sent,” Tighe said. He cited his interest in spending more time with family and the recent loss of good friends as major reasons for his departure. In touching on his experience with the Norwich department, Tighe’s reign was one of change, growth and controversy.
During Tighe’s tenure, the department relocated to Borden Avenue while the current historic firehouse was renovated. He walked in to a position where he said the first major surprise was that the city didn’t have nearly enough money for what it wanted to accomplish. Beyond that, detailed planning had yet to be done for the newly rebuilt facility. Much of his time, early on, was spent securing state funding and working out a more detailed plan for the operations base. Once construction started, the transition had only begun.
The department pumpers spent three years under the Borden Avenue roof before returning to an improved East Main Street facility. They went from a make-shift home to a cutting edge facility that many have labeled the “crown jewel” of the city.
Beyond obvious infrastructure change while in Norwich, the chief said he helped implement major training and educational changes. He is proud of specific equipment upgrades and he considers the department more knowledgeable about its own work than it was before he was there.
Upon leaving the city Monday, Tighe left a vision for how the department can get back on track in areas where he acknowledges it needs improvement. That vision was deeded to city officials in the form of a capital improvement plan that aims to streamline costs and replace department necessities in a fiscally responsible manner.
“I hope the city officers follow up on it,” Tighe said. “Some of the equipment isn’t where it needs to be. It isn’t as reliable as you’d like it to be.” The chief said the department’s tanker and pumpers need to be replaced, and that much of the department’s turn-out gear is aged.
Tighe said much of the dilemma that the department currently finds itself in has to do with the necessity of balancing needs and resources. At times, the former hasn’t been met by the latter, and safety equipment suffered in some areas. He compared the situation to an average father wanting to buy everything his family wants, but having to make hard decisions on what must wait.
“I’d love to just buy everything, but you can’t,” he said.
One of the ways the chief suggests saving money in his long-term plan is by replacing company vehicles with a streamlined fleet of versatile models that would get more bang for the buck. He said he has laid-out a plan for equipment purchase that will keep the city within a certain spending limit, and once the department is out of its current situation, he expects the plan to avoid taking the department there again.
During Tighe’s time in Norwich, his position spent many months as a possible item on the city chopping block. An alderman announced in late 2004 that the full-time chief’s position was being considered as a possible cut from the city budget, and the declaration led to an outpouring of support for Tighe. Publicly, Tighe’s position has been called into question a number of times, at times leading to personal attacks on him and his family. Allegations of a city council member taking inappropriate actions against Tighe and his family were aired in early 2005 city public meetings. His working relationship with certain council members has been visibly strained at times, but the chief holds strongly to one conviction with regard to the future of the department.
“It is my full belief that you need a full-time manager sitting in this chair. If I didn’t believe that, I would have laid myself off,” he said. “This department is too busy and there is too much work for someone not to be here full-time.” He said it was too early to mention any names for his possible replacement, and that it wasn’t his position to do so.
As for his own immediate future, Tighe said he plans to stay out of the fire business. Although he said he will stay involved with community talks regarding emergency services consolidation, his day-to-day will be based around time on the golf course with his son. He is quite a few strokes behind, he said, and changing that is his next job.