This is a printer-friendly version of an article from Zip06.com.
03/20/2018 12:00 AMMatthew Marcarelli, the East Haven fire chief and emergency management director, likes a certain quote from legendary basketball Coach John Wooden: “The true test of a man’s character is what he does when no one is watching.”
And so he was particularly pleased to recently receive in the mail a letter from Alice DeCarlo of Edgehill Drive after the mid-March nor’easter.
“I’m writing you this note to let you know that on...the day after the nor’easter, I was down at the end of my driveway trying to chop some of the huge mess the town plow made when this red fire truck drove by and stopped. Two of your men got out of the truck and cleaned the whole mess and even my mailbox. I could not thank them enough. I only wished that I had gotten their names. I do know that they are with the Foxon Fire Station 3. If you do meet up with them, please thank them again for me. It makes one feel good knowing that there are some good and kind people out there. Again, thank you. Alice DeCarlo. God Bless.”
Marcarelli said he often gets letters praising the great work done by the town’s firefighters.
“These letters re-affirm that our personnel are meeting the expectations of the public and that the training we provide them is paying off,” he said in an email.
“These affirmations are always nice to hear even though I know they do a good job because I watch them and they know it’s expected of them. Occasionally I hear things that serve as a reminder of the character and quality of the people that belong to the East Haven Fire Department.”
Once he received the letter from DeCarlo, he contacted the firefighters who helped her, Brian Kollmer and Brian Wilonski, who said, even though it wasn’t their specific responsibility to help citizens shovel, they wanted to help DeCarlo.
“In this instance they felt compelled to help, when nobody was watching. This is the character of the East Haven Fire Department,” Marcarelli said.