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Tony Sferra caps 53-year career as firefighter
By Sarah Lehr
POLAND
When David “Chip” Comstock Jr., now chief of the Western Reserve Joint Fire District, first joined the department in 1992, veteran firefighter Anthony “Tony” Sferra warned the rookie, “Don’t get used to me, I’m going to be retiring soon.”
More than two decades later, Sferra has finally made good on that assertion.
Friends, family and colleagues Friday night joined Sferra at the Holy Family Parish Center to celebrate the assistant chief’s retirement from Poland’s fire district after 53 years of service.
Sferra, a Poland resident, first became involved with the department at 17 as a “junior firefighter.” The junior firefighters responded mostly to brush fires and tried to stay out of the way during more serious calls.
“We were more or less gophers,” he said.
Still, the junior firefighters did get to leave classes at Poland Seminary High School when the calls for service went out, Sferra remembered.
He officially joined the fire department in 1968 and, with the exception of two years devoted to active duty with the U.S. Marine Corps, he has served the department continually since then.
Beginning in 1973, Sferra also worked concurrently for the Poland Village Police Department. He retired from the police force in 2007 as a detective-sergeant.
Comstock said Sferra’s dual police and fire experience made him particularly valuable for arson investigations. Specifically, the chief pointed to Sferra’s involvement in a years-long probe of Anthony Gaudio II, a former Mahoning County assistant prosecutor.
Gaudio was convicted in 2001 after being accused of case-fixing relating to what investigators said was an attempt to cover up an arson at Gaudio’s Poland home.
Sferra counts arson investigations among his most challenging tasks as a firefighter.
His favorite part of the job was sharing the joy of township parades; his least favorite was witnessing the pain of victims.
“It’s not always the glory,” he said. “You’re going to see some very graphic things at times – accidents where people are chopped up, blood everywhere – and not everyone can handle it.”
“It’s either in here,” he said, pointing at his heart. “Or it’s not.”
Diane Ingold, fire administrator, said of her colleague, “He’s a tough guy on the outside, teddy bear on the inside.”