The City of Salisbury, NC

Council honors retiring Fire Chief Brady

By Mark Wineka, Salisbury Post

As usual, Salisbury Fire Chief Sam Brady deflected the praise heaped on him Tuesday afternoon and tried to give all the credit to the men and women of his department.

Those are the people who make him look good, he said.

"My contribution has been pretty modest," Brady told the crowd at Salisbury City Council's meeting Tuesday. "... They do a heckuva job."

Decked out in his dress uniform, Brady was the center of attention at an hourlong reception before the council's meeting. More tributes came his way when the council convened.

Brady will retire May 1 after 18 years as Salisbury's fire chief and 34 years of service with the department.

As the gifts, dedications and standing ovations kept coming Tuesday, Brady became more emotional. But again, he said give his people their due, not him.

"It's kind of easy to sit up there when everyone else is working," Brady said.

Mayor Susan Kluttz read a resolution in Brady's honor and presented him a framed copy of the resolution with photographs of him and others.

The mayor also presented him with his fire helmet to keep for good.

City Manager David Treme and the rest of his management team had a gift that had something to do with fire.

Treme recalled seeing Brady on one of his days off at Lowe's Home Improvement Warehouse, looking at grills. So that's what his fellow department heads decided to give him for a retirement gift -- a grill.

"We're going to allow you to hang around fire and not get hurt," Treme told him.

The city also has dedicated new landscaping and a brick paver at the Firemen's Memorial, located on the south end of Chestnut Hill Cemetery, in Brady's honor.

Each of the council members paid tribute to the chief. William "Pete" Kennedy described Brady as always approachable and filled with the spirit of the community.

Mark Lewis, a new councilman, said Brady was patient, giving quality time to educate a new kid on the block.

Councilman Bill Burgin said Brady brought ideas, experience and an appreciation of people to his job, and Mayor Susan Kluttz described him as humble, quiet and "an excellent professional."

Kluttz said Brady has been a special friend to her and recalled that he was one of her late father's favorite city employees when he was mayor.

"It may be a happy day for him," the mayor said of Brady's pending retirement. "But it's a sad day for me."

Mayor Pro Tem Paul Woodson said in his 61/2 years on the council, he never heard a negative thing about Brady. "Like the chief said one time, 'People love you when you're saving their houses,' " Woodson added.

While Brady was chief, the department: hired its first woman firefighter, organized the city-county Hazardous Materials Team, earned one of the best ratings from the Insurance Services Office and placed into service Salisbury's first aerial platform ladder truck.

The department also received a $577,816 grant from the Federal Emergency Management Agency in 2002 that was the largest amount awarded in North Carolina and the third largest in the nation.

Firefighters and old friends from many area departments attended the reception for Brady. Also on hand were his wife, Dorothy, and his son and daughter, Mike Brady and Lynn Maurer.

At least three of his six grandchildren want to be firefighters when they grow up.

"He's always been my hero," Mike Brady said.

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