Thomas Breen photo
Fire Chief John Alston, Jr. (right) with new fire graduate James Hilton.
Soon after moving to New Haven, Fire Chief John Alston went to Best Buy to pick up a new gadget. He liked the young man working in tech support so much that he encouraged him to apply for the fire department.
Over a year after that first retail encounter, Alston pinned a badge on the lapel of James Hilton, that former Best Buy employee, as Hilton formally became a New Haven firefighter.
Hilton was one of 42 men and women in the 61st recruit class to graduate from the New Haven Fire Academy on Monday afternoon during an hour-and-a-half ceremony held at Career High School on Legion Avenue in the Hill.
Inside the Career High School auditorium for the Fire Academy graduation.
Hundreds of family members and friends filled the school’s auditorium to cheer on the new firefighters as each walked across the stage and had either Alston or a family member pin a new badge to his or her lapel.
Fire Academy Graduate Troy Ross and his family pose for a photo before the graduation ceremony began.
Before the ceremony began, the new graduates gathered in the hallways outside the auditorium, taking pictures with family members and practicing salutes.
“This is a chance at reinvesting in my community,” said Jonathan Clarke, a 25-year-old Beaver Hills native. He said he is the first in his family to become a firefighter, and that he has known since he was a child that he wanted to be a firefighter.
Inside the auditorium, the new graduates marched in formation to their seats in the front row and declared in unison their commitment to “protect the lives and property of the citizens and visitors to this great city.”
Mayor Toni Harp.
“This is a banner day for the entire city of New Haven,” Mayor Toni Harp said as in congratulations to the new graduates.
She said a spate of recent emergencies underscored the city’s need for more first responders.
She said “major events” on the New Haven Green have recently required the attention of city firefighters. Since late April, there have been about 30 trashcan fires across the New Haven Green.
The department’s “Marine One” rescue boat was dispatched several times this past weekend to assist neighboring fire departments and the Coast Guard with water rescues. She also cited recent dramatic rescues of civilians on East Rock and West Rock.
“It seems every season is the busy season for first responders in New Haven,” she said.
The next hour saw graduate after graduate approach the stage, receive a badge from Chief Alston or a family member, and exchange a salute and a hug as they were formally welcomed into the fire department.
New graduate Keith McMillan (right) and his grandather Donald Wilson.
New graduate Keith McMillan was pinned by his grandfather Donald Wilson, a former firefighter and the first president of the New Haven Firebirds.
When it was Hilton’s time to receive his badge, Alston kept him on stage for an extra minute to share with the audience how the two first met.
Alston identified himself as a bit of a “tech geek,” and said he made a number of trips to Best Buy to purchase new electronic equipment soon after moving to New Haven in 2016. He said he was very impressed with the professionalism, intelligence and helpfulness of Hilton, then a clerk and tech support employee at the store. He said he pestered Hilton to apply to become a firefighter, but Hilton consistently declined.
But lo and behold, when Alston checked the names of the new applicants applying to be a part of the Fire Academy’s 61st class last fall, he said that Hilton had applied. He passed his background check and interview, and was seated along with his 41 other classmates this April.
“Here is the same young man who was so professional and polite” while working at Best Buy, Alston said. Now, he said with pride, he’s a New Haven firefighter.
New fire academy graduates.
During his address to the entire class, Alston said that the New Haven Fire Department is in a transitional moment right now. He said this year saw 43 retirements from the department.
“We find ourselves in a strange situation,” he said, pointing out that the department now has so many young officers and young firefighters. He said the department will have to rely on the quality of its training as never before.
He gave all the graduating firefighters the day off tomorrow, and asked them not to do anything tonight or tomorrow that would result in them having to come to his office to be disciplined come Wednesday.
The 42 graduates of the 61st New Haven Fire Academy class are Nicholas Andreucci, David Aniolowski, Joshua Antrum, Darryl L Arnold, Jalen Augustine, Mark Bascetta, Richard Bonilla, Louis Bosley, Terence Boyle, Jonathan Clarke, Patrick Davidson, Victoire D’Hue, Hector A Diaz, Ryan J Flaherty, Shytanya Floyd, Alexander Gonzalez, Lequane Gormany, Terrence Gould, Johnny Gregory, Kenneth A Harrington Jr, James Hilton, James F Kielar, Lawrence Levine, Ojay Lewis, Juan A Maldonado, Stephen Martin, Deron Mcelveen, Keith McMillan, William McMillian, Lisette Nieves, Neftali Ortiz, Michael Proto, Samod Rankins, Byron Roberts, Richella Rondon-Smith, Troy Ross, Dieter Scheller, Ryan P Underwood, Taurese Washington, Matthew Watkins, Joseph Wendland, Jordan White.
Backgrounds Double Checked
Alston.
After the ceremony, Chief Alston was asked about how background checks were performed for this class. The fire department relies on the police department’s background checkers — two of whomresigned last week under allegations that they falsified over a dozen background checks for applicants for the police academy. The police department has put its own new class of recruits on hold until it can recheck their vetting.
Alston said an unrelated concern towards the end of last year led to the fire department reconducting background checks and reinterviewing all fire academy applicants for the current class.
He said he found out that the questionnaire that fire academy applicants were receiving during interviews was different than the questionnaire that the department had told them to prepare for. He said applicants were leaving their interviews and telling him about questions they had to answer, and documentation they had to provide, that Alston said were not intended to be a part of the fire academy interview process.
Alston said he spoke with the police department, the city’s human resources department, and the city corporation counsel to sort out the miscommunication. He said the fire department was able to put the new questionnaire in place. During the process, it wound up calling back for interviews the half-dozen applicants who had already interviewed, and it reconducted background checks on all applicants. He said a whole new team from the Fire Department was called in to redo the background checks for all applicants.
Alston said he is currently looking into whether or not any background checks at any step of the process were falsified. But, he said, he is confident in the end result, considering how all applicants received two background checks conducted by different personnel.
Mayor Toni Harp said officials did not see a need to delay the fire class the way the police class was delayed. “I’m told with confidence that given the level of scrutiny that firefighters get … they’re comfortable” at the fire department with the qualifications of the new cadets, Harp said on her latest appearance on WNHH FM’s “Mayor Monday” program.
Harp also said she agreed with Police Chief Anthony Campbell’s decision to put the police academy class on hold pending a fresh review of all those applicants’ files.
“I commend Chief Campbell for saying that he wants to make sure that there are no more surprises. Everyone who then gets into this class will know that every T was crossed, every I was dotted, and they absolutely deserve” to become a cop.
Paul Bass contributed to this report.
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This episode of “Mayor Monday” was made possible with the support of Gateway Community College and Berchem Moses P.C.