Lakewood Fire Chiefs Installation Dinner

I'm going out of order here uh I'd like to we have very several distinguished guests in the house tonight from the Lakewood fire Commissioners Mike Dennis Mike deia and Larry lman thank you for coming the ex-chiefs of Lakewood fire department Jack dely dick weaton Al Burge dick Wallace Bob cook Richie Sherman Mike Delia and John [Applause] stillo oh my God you have been honored by your fellow firefighters by their vote they have demonstrated their faith and ability to lead them are you willing to accept this office raise your right hand and repeat after me using your name or I use mine just please say J I'm Michael deia Senor I Michael deia Jr jom me swear do solomy swear to uphold the laws and regulations of the lakid fire department to uphold the laws and regulations of the lakeid fire dep and the state of New Jersey and the state of New Jersey in the office of second assistant chief in the office of second assistant chief I will direct my efforts I will direct my efforts to maintain the high standards of the L fire department to maintain the high standards Lake Fire to the best of my ability to the best of my ability so help me God so help me God raise your right hand and repeat after me hi hi Joe MCM no I I Steve mam do do solemnly swear do solemnly swear to uphold the law and regulations to uphold the law and regulations of the Lakewood fire department of the Lakewood fire department and the state of New Jersey and the state of New Jersey in the office of in the office of second ass first assist and chief I will direct my efforts I will direct my efforts to maintain the high standards of the Lake Fire Department to maintain the high standards of the L fire department to the best of my ability so help me gu to the best of my ability so help me gu [Applause] W now Chief Todd Stark will be sworn in by his mother [Applause] Carolyn you have been honored by by your friends fire firefighters by their they have demonstrated their faith and ability to Le them are you yes raise your right hand and repeat after me I Todd star do solemnly swear do solemnly swear will hold the law and regulations to uphold the law and regulations of the Lakewood fire department of the Lakewood fire department and the state of New Jersey and the state of New Jersey and the office of and the office of Chief I will direct my efforts I will direct my efforts to maintain the high standards to maintain the high standards of the Lakewood Fire Department of the Lakewood fire department to the best of my ability to the best of my ability so help me God so help me [Applause] God and I wish you all the best of luck and good tids [Applause] congratulations so Rodney with number two's gr gratification to you being our chief from our station I want to say thank you thank you sir [Applause] and also Rodney here's another little gift from Rescue to we heard you might want some golf clubs we heard D might want a vacation so we have an envelope here with something that hopefully will take you wherever you want to go thank you want to read what says on it we want to present you with his jacket as becoming Chief department on behalf of the members of St [Applause] 67 Chief Stark can you come forward please I hereby give you your white coat for the Chiefs jacket fir GI little firefighter GI you will wear with pride I know and get it dirty and besides that uh I present to you your Chief shield for your helmet like with Fire Department and chief to our newest chief of by May uh MJ would you please come up as assistant chief uh second assistant chief may I present to you your helmet and wear with pride which I know you will maintain your family tradition and best of luck to you [Applause] ch [Applause] just had a couple other items to pass out to the chief your ball cap it says he Chief and for you assistant chief MC thank and to assistant chief Deo there you are we're the M pride is it this time that I would like to ask ex Chief Rodney step forward he is our chief but now has passed the rains and has uh gained the right to the title of ex-chief Lakewood fire department sir I [Applause] like I would like to present Chief yman with his ex-chief badges may you wear them and enjoy and I'm not letting him get away that quick because you know how Rodney is this is going to last about 35 seconds in the white state that it's in but you also gain a ball cap it's a white ex Chief's ball cap [Applause] [Music] thank at this time uh Chief yman is going to step forward he has some words to say again congratulations Chief pleasure [Applause] ser [Music] thank well little more than six years ago one of my fellow company members in rescue fire company number two Vince labello approached me and said would you be interested in taking chap I hadn't even thought of it in all seriousness I contemplated leaving the fire department at that time and I said I had to go home and check for the boss de this Chief and I said that I Chief I would like to do it if I had her support and she gave me her support as well as everyone else from my Station House to the Department I thought about for a long time what I was going to say then I was going to put it onto paper and somebody said don't take more than five minutes okay fine and I won't but I wanted to thank virtually everyone that's sitting here tonight because directly and indirectly in some way you supported me help guide me and encourage me to continue I want to thank the department for their nomination I also want to thank the individual companies I want to thank the line officers who were always there and did everything that was asked to them and a special thank you to Captain Rios from station 68 Hook and Ladder every time I called him I tried not to call him during the day because he gets cranky when he doesn't get his beauty sleep so and for all the events in special details station 68 was always there I want to thank the department trustees the relief Association the lak with fire department lak with fireman's relief Association also the exempts association which I just became a member of recently um new kid on the block with the association to all the Chiefs and Company captains that I have served under I've tried to follow your lead and what I have learned and try to continue the high standards of this department I want to thank the ladies auxilary past and present for all their Endeavors all their support for the functions over the years and the fires thank the Lakewood Board of fire Commissioners for their continued support also to Megan D the administrator and to Rich braz the board attorney I have some special guests in the house some of my longtime friends out there from station 26 Tom Riv rescue company to I got ex-chief Tony sers Chief Jeff Sears yes there is two of them they're twins and then uh Captain Phil H Horatio Han and uh Dave wild rice also want to thank the Lakewood Scoop and also the Lakewood Shopper for their positive U you know press coverage for us uh I just want to say thank you uh for all the uh all the coverage since I became a chief we've had the fortunate the experience of losing a couple police officers who I call friends and co-workers I just want to say that they will not be forgotten to William nii presler and a Christopher Matos and for the fire department members who answered their final alarm in the line of duty ex captain and commissioner Stanley marks and Alex ladf you will never be forgotten Chiefs thank you and incoming second assistant MJ I wish you all the luck in the world did I see someone somebody like grinning over there at the end of the table Lieutenant Robert Cook Junior host company number three who I call a friend and lieutenant prodell and his brother Jeff I consider very good friends as well I want to thank my company once again rescue fire company number two and all of its members for their never ending support and I go back to you now as a regular firefighter I'm glad to see that all the younger members in this department have been getting their training their learning and they're eager to continue to do well the citizens of this town are truly blessed to know that this is in no indifference to any other department around this is one of the best departments known to [Applause] mankind I've had the honor and the privilege of leading this department I try to do my best and in closing I just want to say thank you to my family thank you and I really appreciate the honor and the gesture that this department showed to my family when my father passed in 2004 he loved this department and so do I thank you and to everybody in my family thanks for putting up with me and I'm going to be around the house for I'll do back to me I'll do washing but uh stop stop than you I just want to say thank you uh you want to say a few words for you now first I to say that CL probally zero well I'm very proud of you and proud to be your wife I am proud that uh your your uh constant your your efforts are Relentless with your dedication to this Department of community and I never doubted your ability to do this from the GetGo you've done an amazing job and I want to thank everyone that has supported riding through this and uh I want to wish you guys the best of BL with your Endeavor for your future and [Applause] uh my God Parents Larry and Jean Branch who drove from Myrtle Beach to be here I really do appreciate this I love you both to Debbie to Lee yeah I know my kids yeah they call me once in a while they need money uh where are they Jennifer there's my Jen J Jen and Jennifer Bren and Alex and also Sean's not here tonight thank you all it's my father-in-law Dan bagnolo I left somebody out I left D read out yes I left D Mom thank you and in closing I'd like to say thank you all for being here and for my father thank [Applause] you just have to say one I remember the day boy was born so I'm not call my diapers I just I went to the hospital he was only 2 hours old and I fell in love with him that moment and he's been my baby brother for all these years and he always will be and I saw him grow into this wonderful man have two wonderful children and step children and when he became a fireman it was something that I knew in his heart he to all the time and he's I've heard of the radio um after a fire after all his men were released and sent home safely he would tell them thank you for what they've done and and the respect that he showed for his men was just overwhelming and women sorry he always always show that respect and that I always love him for and I know that our dad would have loved to see him as Chief and he would have been very proud of him as we all are I can say that um he's a wonderful guy and you know is it is everybody perfect no I'm sure there things he would have done differently but you know everybody can say that but I uh in his Tour of Duty that he had all of his men came home which is a wonderful thing and um he did it well and I'm very happy to be his sister love