As of Tuesday night, Riverhead Fire Chief Kevin Brooks will get to do something he hasn’t been able to do in eight years: roll over in bed when a call comes in for a chiefs’ investigation.
The fire chiefs in Riverhead answer dozens of alarms like that every year — every time a smoke detector or CO2 alarm or some other automatic alarm sounds. Over his eight years in the chiefs’ cycle, Brooks has answered hundreds. And that’s on top of the more than a thousand other alarms answered by RFD rank and file firefighters every year.
The veteran firefighter becomes “ex-chief” Brooks tomorrow night, when First Assistant Chief Peter Jackman will be sworn in as chief of the department at the Riverhead Fire District Commissioners’ meeting.
Brooks, 60, a 21-year member of the Riverhead Fire Department, put in his time as second lieutenant, first lieutenant and captain of his company — Reliable Hose — prior to his election as third assistant chief in 2010.