Mayor Ruthanne Fuller has picked Assistant Chief Gino P. Lucchetti to lead the Newton Fire Department, after Chief Bruce Proia announced his retirement earlier this year, Newton Patch reports. His appointment still requires city council approval.
Lucchetti picked to become Newton’s new fire chief
by Village 14 | Apr 30, 2019 | Newton | 4 comments
Congratulations to Assistant Chief Lucchetti. If confirmed by the City Council, Lucchetti’s first act as Chief should be to ask for an independent investigation into the cause of and response to the recent Chestnut Hill Towers fire. Mayor Fuller is making a mistake by not calling for an outside investigation into a fire that drove nearly 1% of the city’s population out of their homes. While it appears that emergency responders handled the fire with extreme professionalism, they should not be in charge of evaluating their own response in this case.
@Mike,
This is the second time I’ve seen you ask for this independent investigation.
You say emergency responders handled the fire with extreme professionalism.
So what exactly are you looking for here?
A tower fire of this nature is highly unusual in Newton. I’m interested in helping first responders evaluate every aspect of their performance. Something they are clearly interested in as well, and with an obvious public benefit. I believe in this unique instance that a performance review would be best served by an outside expert. Particularly as the city is in the process of turning over the reins to a new fire chief.
@ Mike Striar – What needs investigation is whether the Contractor was negligent in the performance of his work and whether the scope of work being performed required building permits to be pulled. In addition, the investigation needs to identify what is the approval process to perform renovations at the Towers and did this Contractor comply and carry insurance? Hopefully, a thorough and complete investigation will produce answers.