New Fire Chief Sworn In At New London Fire Department

Forty-three years to the day after he became a full-time firefighter with the New London Fire Department, Ron Samul has officially retired.

Samul, who served as fire chief for just over 27 years, marked his last day at the department today. Henry Kydd, who has been with the department for 34 years and was named deputy chief last year, was sworn in as the new chief this afternoon.

Kydd has been acting chief of the department and overseeing day-to-day operations since October, when Samul began using compensatory time accrued over the course of his career. He thanked his family for supporting him during his career.

“They’ve sacrificed as much as I have, missing birthdays and Christmases,” he said.

Samul said he plans to stay involved in some areas of the department, such as the Incident Management Team and regional efforts such as hazardous materials response. Beyond that, he plans to enjoy his new free time.

“Mostly I’m just going to do my own stuff at home,” he said. “I’ve got my cars to fool around with. We like to go to Ocean Beach on Mondays for the car show.”

At the brief ceremony in front of the department headquarters, Kydd’s wife Pamela pinned on his badge and Samul gave Kydd his helmet shield. Mayor Daryl Finizio, who announced that he would appoint Kydd to the post on March 13, swore him into office. Finizio described Kydd as “almost overqualified” for the job.

“There are many tough decisions that I know I have had to face as mayor. Selecting the new chief of this department was not one of them,” he said.

In his time at the department, Kydd served eight years as a firefighter/EMT and another eight years as a lieutenant before serving 17 years as battalion chief.

Samul, who began volunteering for the department as a teenager, became a full-time firefighter in 1970. After he was promoted to fire inspector in 1980 and fire marshal the next year, he became fire chief in 1985.

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