Kenneth Kiefer’s firefighting career started when he was about two hours old.
At least that’s the way his mother sees it. Sarah Kiefer said her husband, a firefighter in Palisades Park was getting ready to march in the borough’s Memorial Day parade in 1980 when an emergency came up.
“He got a call that I was going into labor and had to leave the parade and rush to the hospital,” said the proud mother. “When Kenneth was two hours old, he received his first gift It was a plastic firetruck toy. It’s hard to believe that it is now 39 years later.”
Kiefer was one of 25 Paterson firefighters who were promoted during a ceremony on Friday at the city’s fire headquarters, an event attended by more than 200 people. He was one of eight captains promoted to battalion chief. The other promotions were 13 firefighters making captain and five battalion chiefs advancing to deputy chief.