Mayor Lauren Garrett is looking to make longtime Fire Department leader Jeffrey Naples the agency's next chief. Naples, who has headed the department in an interim capacity since former Chief Gary Merwede retired over the summer, joined the Hamden Fire Department's ranks 16 years ago. He was promoted to lieutenant in 2013 and later became a station captain.
In March, Garrett appointed Naples acting chief. "I interviewed him for assistant chief knowing that Chief Merwede was planning to retire, and I needed someone who could fill the role," Garrett said Monday. “He works incredibly hard. ... He has the respect of the Fire Department, he’s very organized and very commanding in his role. I think that he’s going to be a very good chief."