During his 40 years with the city’s fire department, Charles Spaulding said the relationships he forged were the most rewarding.
But it was the person he never met who may have inspired him the most. Spaulding, who retired last week as Stamford’s chief fire marshal, has kept a picture on his desk of David Austin, who was the city’s first black firefighter when he was hired in 1955.
After seeing a job ad posted on a bulletin board when he was coaching a basketball game at the Yerwood Center, Spaulding was among 12 black firefighter recruits who joined the department in 1979.
Spaulding, a 63-year-old Norwalk native, credits Austin for opening the door for black firefighters in Stamford. However, blacks still remain a small portion — 17 out of 250 members — of Stamford’s department.