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07/20/2022 08:30 AMAlmost five decades ago John Palermo decided to join the fire department with some friends. 45 years later he’s still caring for Westbrook residents now as the Emergency Management Director.
According to its website, the mission of the Westbrook Emergency Management Department is to, “respond, recover from, and mitigate any emergency or disaster that affects the Town of Westbrook.” That can include everything from severe weather to natural disasters to man-made threats.
John has been the director of the department since March.
“A friend of mine was the director originally and she asked me if I’d be the deputy director which I said ’yes, I’ll give that a try.’ Then she stepped down a few months ago, and I became the director,” says John. John says he’s been with the department less than a full year between his time as deputy and director.
That’s not to say John doesn’t have experience, however. John has 45 years’ experience as a firefighter.
“It seemed like something I might be good at. Well 45 years later and I’m still active. It gets in your blood I guess,” John says with a chuckle. John says he was convinced to join the fire department after some of his friends as well as a brother also joined. “I thought I’d give it a shot and if I didn’t like it, I could leave. But I’m still here,” says John.
Being a firefighter isn’t always easy unfortunately.
“You see a lot. The hardest is always when you lose someone,” that said, there certainly are rewarding parts to the job.
“My favorite part of being a firefighter is when we have a successful save of someone’s life, whether it’s a fire or a heart attack,” says John. “It’s amazing.”
John says his experience with the fire department has been extremely valuable in helping with his time in the emergency management department. “I’m still learning what to do myself, “says John.
“In short, I’m responsible for notifications of natural disasters or if there’s a hurricane coming and it’s severe or if a storm takes down a lot of wires,” says John. “Also, if needed we open up a shelter and get the word out that folks can come down. We work very closely with our police and fire department and first selectman’s office to make sure we’re looking after the general safety of the community.”
John says another duty that people may not realize is the amount of paperwork that comes with the job. John says the position is a division of the Department of Homeland Security so, “it can certainly make for a lot of meetings.”
As part of an ongoing project, John works to regularly update the department’s website and Facebook page.
“There’s always room to improve something. But I try and post on there so people know to check it,” says John.
Sometimes these include updates about severe weather or storm preparations, but sometimes he posts mundane updates about topics he knows people will wonder about. For example, John says that recently Eversource was doing vegetation work in the area while utilizing a helicopter.
“I posted that the helicopter was in the area because I knew folks would have questions, and I didn’t want people to think we were being invaded or something,” John jokes.
“Communication with the police, fire department, and town is big. You want to make sure that everything is current,” John adds.
John also spends time giving talks to different groups in town on relevant safety topics. One recent talk was given to the Council of Beaches in conjuncture with the Red Cross on coastal preparedness.
“It went good, people were interested,” says John.
Asked for his favorite part of the emergency management position John says, “my favorite part is notifying people of something and having them say ‘thank you.’ They send thank you messages, and people are very appreciate of the work we do notifying people of things in advance.“
As for the hardest part, John acknowledges that it can be frustrating when people don’t heed his warnings.
“When you have a bad coastal storm, and we evacuate people and some people don’t want to leave. Some people just won’t listen and it’s hard because we have to tell them that if they stay and things get bad and they call 911 we won’t be able to help them,” says John.
John grew up in Westbrook and says his favorite aspect of the town is the small town charm.
“I like that small town atmosphere, There’s a lot of camaraderie and a lot of volunteerism. I like that if you need something you can walk into the town hall and ask or get what you need you don’t need an appointment,” says John. “Also, in general all these people here treat us very well. There is a lot of support from the general public.”
In his spare time John can be found riding his motorcycle to relax.
“It’s almost like mediation to me,” says John.