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Former fire chief says goodbye after 33 years
By Joe Gorman
YOUNGSTOWN
With his father, grandfather, three uncles and brother all working as city firefighters, some might say John O’Neill was preordained to not only be a city firefighter, but also chief.
O’Neill said Thursday, however, that was not the case. It was his last day as a battalion chief at Station 2 on Indianola Avenue, where he spent most of his career before taking over as fire chief in 1998.
O’Neill said he studied to become a mechanical engineer and was actually working at that when he took a test for the fire department. It was in the wake of the steel mills closing and it was hard to find a job.
He took the test, scored seventh, was hired and immediately thrown into the fray, fighting a fire on his first shift.
That also changed his career path, he said. No more mechanical engineering; he was hooked on firefighting.
“I said, ‘This is for me,’” O’Neill said.
O’Neill was appointed chief in 1998 by former Mayor George McKelvey, and served until the end of 2017, when he vacated the post to become a battalion chief. Barry Finley was tabbed by current Mayor Jamael Tito Brown to take his place.
As a firefighter climbing through the ranks and as chief, O’Neill presided over some of the busiest times in the department’s history. There were a lot of people losing homes or businesses and they were setting fires for insurance money, he said, as well as the glut of vacant homes the city had that were also catching fire.
“It was off the charts. We’re talking about several fires a shift,” O’Neill said.
The firefighters themselves are also different, O’Neill said. He said new firefighters who join the department are well trained before they join. When he started, O’Neill said, he had no formal training. It was expected that he would squeeze in training while he was working.
“Now, you can’t even hire someone unless they’re trained,” O’Neill said.
He said he thinks his greatest accomplishment is that he was able to “protect the ranks.” When he took over as chief, there were 126 firefighters and 10 trucks. When he left as chief, there were 127 firefighters and 10 trucks.
“In a lot of desperate times, we got through every one of them and protected the ranks,” O’Neill said.
He stressed that, in the current climate when stations are being closed on a rotating basis and trucks left unstaffed because of the city’s financial crisis, firefighters must never buy into the fact that they are a liability.
“We are a necessity,” O’Neill said. “We are an insurance policy and we have a proven track record. We save lives and property.”
As for his future, O’Neill said his No. 1 goal in retirement is to spend time with family.