By Darran Simon
The Philadelphia Inquirer
CAMDEN, N.J. — Camden’s interim fire chief, David A. Yates, would have liked to stay on the job a few more years, but he figured he could do more good by retiring.
Yates, who has been acting as chief since June, officially retires Saturday, ending a roughly 25-year career with the department. He hopes the elimination of his salary from the payroll will benefit one of 67 firefighters who face layoffs.
“My hope in leaving is that I will preserve a job for someone who has a mortgage and a family,” Yates, 51, said Thursday. “If I can do that, then I can walk out of here with my head held high.”
Yates said he is worried that cutting firefighters will compromise public safety.
“I oppose the cuts,” he said. “The companies we have, we need. If we didn’t need them, we wouldn’t have them.”
By Jan. 18, Camden could lay off up to a third of its fire department and half of its police force. The city recently received $4 million of an overdue payment from the South Jersey Port Corp., a quasi-state agency, that could reduce the previously announced number of layoffs.
According to a formula city officials have used in union negotiations, $4 million would save 58 of the 247 police and fire positions slated to be cut. City spokesman Robert Corrales said the city has not yet determined how many jobs might be preserved.
Mayor Dana L. Redd has appointed Michael L. Harper, 48, of Lawnside - deputy fire chief of administration and a nearly 24-year department veteran - as acting fire chief, Corrales said.
Harper’s promotion is pending approval by the state Department of Community Affairs. His previous jobs in Camden include battalion fire chief and deputy chief tour commander, according to the city.
Yates, who will collect a pension, said his own job had not been in jeopardy. He said several factors, which he declined to discuss, contributed to his decision to retire. But the primary motivation, he said, was to save someone else’s job. He encouraged other veterans to follow his example.
He made the decision about two months ago, when layoffs seemed inevitable, he said. His letter informing the city of his retirement was dated Dec. 1.
“The reality is that this isn’t a scare tactic,” he said.
Yates has been outspoken about the effect layoffs could have on emergency-response times in the city.
“Less manpower and fewer companies means longer response times,” he said. “The ability to complete the tasks at hand becomes more difficult.”
Camden has one of the few fire departments in the state with paid personnel, and is surrounded by towns staffed with volunteers. The city has been leaning more on those volunteers for mutual aid since temporarily closing companies to reduce overtime, he said.
Yates joined the department in 1985 after working five years as a machinist at the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard. His late grandfather worked for the Camden Fire Department for 35 years, he said.
“I grew up around it with my grandfather,” he said. “It was pretty much in my blood.”
Yates’ starting salary was around $13,500. As chief, he made $150,704, according to the city.
During his time as chief, the department has secured about $1.4 million in federal grants for a ladder truck, along with fire safety gear, a station generator, and training, Yates said. A $350,000 state grant is pending to buy a pumper.
Harper recently submitted another federal grant proposal for $5 million over two years to retain firefighters facing layoffs.
The department also has initiated a verification policy to curtail unauthorized use of sick time, he said.
Yates lives in Long Beach Township in Ocean County. He and his wife have a 28-year-old daughter, a 14-year-old son, and 12-year-old twin boys.
Yates is not sure what’s next for him professionally. Firefighting, he said, “was a lifetime dream.”
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