By Susan Danseyar
Journal Inquirer
SOMERS, Conn. — While he spends a lot of his time talking about firefighting on his weekly podcast, newly hired Fire Chief David Lenart said his first week at his new job was about quietly listening and learning.
“So far, everything is going quite well,” said Lenart, who started July 8. “I’ve been meeting a lot of people and everyone has been very supportive and helpful.”
He drives over an hour each way between his home in Derby and Somers to lead the department that has most recently been overseen by acting fire chief Keith Allard, who in May took over for former fire chief John Roache after he left to work in Mansfield.
The trip is well worth it for Lenart. “I grew up in a small community, and learned about the fire service and how to be a firefighter there,” he said about his life in Derby. “I’ve always liked the operation and the feel of fire departments in small communities like Somers .”
Somers requires its fire chief to live within 25 miles of the town within a year of being hired. Lenart said he looks forward to moving closer to work.
“I have a young family and moving to a different part of the state opens up opportunities for them,” he said.
Lenart is earning an annual salary of $120,000. The Board of Selectmen will offer him a financial incentive to find a home in Somers.
He was most recently a lieutenant for the Bridgeport Fire Department, where he supervised the city’s only technical rescue unit. Throughout his time in Bridgeport, Lenart also served as one of four shift safety officers, responsible for safety and daily training for more than 60 firefighters on shift.
He also started working for the volunteer fire department in Derby in 1994 and eventually served eight years as its chief, where he coordinated training and certification for the city’s volunteer fire department, developed and implemented emergency management plans for natural disasters, and managed daily operations, including budgeting and policy development.
But Lenart’s love for Derby’s volunteer fire department started long before 1994. “My family goes back generations,” he said. “My great-grandfather was a fire chief in Derby and my grandfather started Derby’s ambulance corps.”
He and his brother followed in the footsteps of older male relatives, including their father, who all worked for the department.
“This was a huge part of my life,” Lenart said. “I never had that problem of wondering what I was going to do when I grew up. My brother and I always knew that we wanted to be firefighters.”
Volunteer firefighting departments require strong leadership, Lenart said. He hosts a weekly podcast, called “The Volley Chief” on Apple Podcast that delves into the multifaceted world of leadership within volunteer fire departments, highlighting the significance of their role in ensuring public safety and community well-being.
The podcast, which Lenart has been making for almost a year, derives from a development program he started and taught at several conferences about incident command for volunteer fire departments. Sometimes Lenart speaks himself but often has guests that include fire chiefs and emergency responders.
“My goal is to interview an officer from every state and so far have crossed off about 10 on my list,” he said. His guests have included chiefs from Connecticut, New York, and a number of Midwestern states. “I really enjoy it because as different as it is, it’s also the same thing,” he said about volunteer firefighting all over the country.
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