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09/27/2017 08:30 AMFire Chief Matthew “Matt” Marcarelli was officially sworn in April 20, and he’s made strides to improve the department and continue its success. Matt says he enjoys working for and with East Haven, and plans on “staying here for quite a while.”
Staying makes sense when you consider this job is a lifelong dream.
“My furthest memory back, when it came to my occupation, was to be a firefighter,” Matt says.
Growing up in North Haven, Matt was involved in boy scouts at a younger age, and the person in charge of his troop was chief of the North Haven Fire Department at the time. He says that provided him with exposure to the fire service, and introduced him to the camaraderie associated with the job.
He eventually began volunteering in Northford, became certified as an emergency medical technician (EMT), and worked in ambulances in New Haven. He also had previous exposure in East Haven, working as a part-time inspector until he became a full-time firefighter in New Haven.
“I would spend the next 22 years there, and held almost every rank in the department there,” Matt says, “When I left, I was the acting chief of the department.”
East Haven was on Matt’s radar when he was looking for a fire chief position—it’s close to his home and he had previous experience with the department, and knew the department as well as the town. He worked closely with former Chief Doug Jackson during his time in New Haven, and knew others who worked here as well.
“I was very pleased to get [an offer] here,” Matt says.
Matt says the town’s department is a great one, and there are a lot of talented people in it. He also says it’s a busy department, doing upwards of 7,000 runs per year, 70- to 80 percent of which are medical calls. He’s proud of the paramedic service in town, and proud of the work all the individuals do at the department.
In fact, Matt thinks that being a paramedic himself (since 1992) makes him a better leader because he understands all the aspects of the job.
“I’ve basically served in every capacity that our department operates, in a bunch of different disciplines,” Matt says. “Prevention, fire extinguishment or suppression, [and] also emergency medical services, so I have a pretty keen grasp on everything that we’re doing to meet our mission of saving lives.”
One of the collateral responsibilities Matt has as fire chief is also being the emergency manager.
“I’m responsible for a lot of the planning and preparation that goes into emergency response after disasters,” Matt says.
He’s been working on the hazard mitigation plan since the day he started—he says it takes quite a bit of work to put that together. The plan has to do with being prepared to prevent damage from disasters and “hardening” the community against those types of events.
Another thing Matt will be working on is the Assistance to Firefighters Grant Program, which is funded through FEMA and the United States Fire Administration. He says it’s really the only grant program in the U.S. whose funds go directly to the fire departments.
“I’m hopeful that I have a couple of good project ideas that have a very good chance of getting funded,” Matt says.
He’s also doing revisions to the standard operating guidelines, saying they haven’t been updated in a while, though there’s nothing earth-shattering to address. His number-one priority when he started was to get the staffing up, as the department was down a few people due to unexpected retirements and injuries. He says he’s been able to get good people in the Fire Department through the recruiting effort.
Overall, Matt is enjoying working in town.
“The Fire Department is a great place to work, no matter where it is,” Matt says, “I’m fortunate that I have a good group of people that are working here, so they make it easy for me to do my job, and that’s a pleasure.”
The people in the community that Matt has met since he started have been “really good and great to work with,” and he says it’s an honor to serve them as their fire chief, adding that they’re in good hands.
All of the people that he deals with in town government have also been accepting of him, and lend him any assistance that he may need.
Moving forward, Matt says he’s going to keep an eye on how the department is running and continue to plan for the future. He says there’s a group of people who are nearing eligibility for retirement, so he’s going to make sure there’s an active civil service list maintained for firefighters and paramedics. He’s also going to continue working on the capital plan.
“I’ve got some momentum going already, so I think that I’m just going to continue with that momentum,” Matt says, “There’s been some changes operationally that have been well accepted by the rank and file.”
He also says he has the ability to take the vernacular of a firefighter and put into terms everyone can understand.
“I think when you’re in a smaller department like this, where you work so closely with the community, it’s important that they really understand that true mission of the department, and that somebody’s there to be able to explain it to them,” Matt says.