Merrimack Valley

'Night and day' duo retiring from Fire Department

By J.J. Huggins
jhuggins@eagletribune.com
Published: October 5, 2008

METHUEN — They started their careers together 32 years ago, and come July, the city's two top-ranking firefighters will both retire together.

Chief Clifford Gallant, 54, and Assistant Chief Dennis Bergeron, 59, said they want to leave their jobs while they're healthy enough to enjoy their golden years.

Both men wanted to become chief in 2005. Bergeron said that if he didn't get the job, he hoped and prayed Gallant would, and that's what happened. Gallant made Bergeron his second-in-command — the city's first assistant fire chief — and the two say they have worked well together ever since.

"We're like night and day," said Bergeron, who spent four years as a radioman in the Navy during Vietnam. "He's big. I'm small. He's quiet. I'm loud."

The departures will leave the Fire Department with two big pairs of shoes to fill. Both the chief's position and the assistant chief's position are non-civil service. Mayor William Manzi said he plans to form a search committee after Jan. 1 to help him find a new fire chief. The new chief will then help pick the assistant chief.

Gallant will retire at age 55 — retirement age for a firefighter — and Bergeron will retire at 60.

"I know a couple of people that passed away at an earlier age," Gallant said. "I want to make sure I have some healthy years to enjoy my retirement."

Asked to share some of their strongest memories, both recalled the Malden Mills inferno of 1995.

Gallant was a lieutenant on the first engine company that went into the mill. He remembers the fleeing burn victims. Bergeron was a fire investigator and spent eight to 10 months trying to piece together the cause of the blaze, which he said was accidental and "a domino effect of all kinds of things."

Gallant also recalled a fire in December 1996 where he caught a baby girl that was thrown out of a window, and firefighters proceeded to rescue the family. Instincts take over in situations like that, he said.

"You don't think about it until after the fire," he said. "You say, 'Hey, somebody up there was watching us. Today was a good day.'"

Before Bergeron joined the department, he had to choose whether he wanted to be a cop or a firefighter. He's delighted with the outcome.

"Most times when we're dealing with people, they're very happy to see us," which isn't always the case for police officers, he said.

Both men grew up in Methuen. Gallant graduated from Central Catholic High School in 1971. Bergeron graduated from Methuen High in 1966.

Bergeron, a married father of four and grandfather of two, loves to go to Disney World with his wife. He's open to taking a part-time job there, although he doesn't know what he would do, he said.

Gallant is a married father of two. Among his plans are tackling his "honey do list" of chores and improving his golf game.

"That's going to take a lot of work," he said.