By William Kaempffer
The New Haven Register
NEW HAVEN, Conn. — As a kid, Tom Holman chased fire trucks on his bicycle down Townsend Avenue.
“Sometimes it would be an incident at the airport or a house fire. I was always amazed at the courage of the firefighters. To me, it seemed a great profession to try to do.”
Forty-some-odd years later, Holman, 57, retired last week from the New Haven Fire Department after 32 years on the job.
Finishing their final tours, he and Roman Jakubiec, 59, reflected on the bumper of Engine 16. They joined the department a year apart and retired together, Holman rising to the rank of deputy chief and Jakubiec remaining a private throughout his career, working 22 years in the Dixwell firehouse, one of the busiest in the city. Firefighter Jack Whelan, 62, a driver on Engine 9, retires Friday after 35 years on the job.
“You know when it’s time. There’s an age factor,” said Jakubiec, noting responding to 15 to 20 calls a night at a busy station takes a physical toll. “You reach a certain age and it’s time you either pack it in or move to another house.”
His last few years were spent at the Lighthouse Road house.
The firefighters at times, struggled with the decision to retire. They joined the service as young men and spent most of their adult lives in the profession. Holman recalled then-Director of Training John Reardon, who later went on to become chief, telling his recruit class to look around the room full of strangers with different backgrounds.
“He said to us, ‘You’ll be in each other’s weddings, baptize each other’s children and paint each other’s houses,” said Holman. “He was right.”
Whelan recalled an episode with Reardon after a particularly stubborn fire in the Hill. He came to the firehouse afterward and summoned everyone. Whelan thought they would get a well-deserved pat on the back, but instead got chewed out for 30 minutes.
He told them they used too much water on the third-floor fire and second and first floors residents lost everything to water damage, Whelan recalled.
“He said for a lot of people in the Hill, that was everything that they had. It was before renter’s insurance,” Whelan said. “You learn something new every day on this job.”
Holman will devote his new free time with his 23-year-old disabled son. Jakubiec will watch his son play baseball and both leave with memories, some good, some painful.
Jakubiec didn’t hesitate. “Bradley Street,” he said, stopping as he choked up. He couldn’t talk about it. “I get emotional.”
In 1997, Noelle Hovey ran back into her burning apartment house in a vane attempt to save her 3-year-old daughter, Lily.
Both were killed.
Whelan’s was intensely personal. Eight years ago, he lost a son to a car crash. As he mourned, probably 40 colleagues came to the hospital in support and took care of everything for the family as it prepared for the funeral.
“How the Fire Department came to my family’s need. My family will never forget what they did for me,” he said.
Holman recalled the hours after 9/11 when he was instructed to compile a list of all off-duty personnel willing to go to New York if needed and recalled the pride when almost everyone to a man volunteered.
“It’s going to be harder to leave than you would think,” Holman said. “We grew up on the job. Now we’re saying goodbye to a big, big part of our life. We’re going to miss it.”
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