COSTA MESA : Fire Chief Retires; Job Took Its Toll

It was exactly a year ago that John P. Petruzziello felt the first pulsating sensations of a heart attack that took him away from his job as chief of the 130-member Fire Department.

He had stopped at some property outside of Barstow after attending a conference of fire chiefs in Palm Springs when he felt the pain in his chest. He spent two months recuperating with rest and medication and never returned to work.

Petruzziello’s official retirement was approved Thursday, ending a career that spanned 31 years and included firefighting, teaching, supervising and even saving a baby in a burning home.

Firefighters in Costa Mesa can retire early because studies have shown that their occupation leads to a decreased life span--nine years shorter than average, Petruzziello said.

Many firefighters suffer heart and stress-related diseases despite their healthy lifestyles, he said. It didn’t matter, he said, that he exercised three or four times a week, didn’t smoke, didn’t drink liquor and ate healthy food. The job stress, as well as the techniques used in the firefighting business when he began in 1959, added to the deterioration of his health, he suggested.

“When I had my heart attack, it just shocked a lot of people,” he said.

The stress of the job begins when the loud bell wakes up the sleeping firefighters in the middle of the night to go out and battle a blaze, Petruzziello said.

The adrenaline begins to pump as the men and women get dressed, put on their gear and race to the emergency. Once there, smoke, fire and other dangers keep them keenly alert while they watch out for themselves and their fellow firefighters until the blaze is controlled and they can secure the building and return to the station.

After several years of repeating this exercise, the pumping adrenaline damages arteries and leaves nerves frazzled, Petruzziello said.

In addition to the stress, the equipment, clothing and work environment was not as safe when he started firefighting in 1959 as it is today. Heat and fire-resistant clothing, much of it developed by NASA, has replaced the wool pants that were standard because they didn’t burn “as fast” as other clothing at the time.

Loud, clanging bells have been replaced with calmer tones and equipment has been improved to enhance safety.

It was at least 10 years after he first became a firefighter that Petruzziello used a breathing mask to keep from inhaling smoke, and then only because some of the men in his station dabbled in scuba diving and converted some of that equipment to their firefighting jobs.

“The first 10 years that I went into fires without breathing apparatus, I’m sure had some effect” on my health, he said.

The day-to-day stress of the job is also being addressed now in debriefing sessions after each fire. Petruzziello said the emotions of seeing a family’s possessions burned beyond repair or to see people hurt, especially children, is difficult to get over.

Two of his firefighter friends have died over the past year and others have undergone heart-bypass surgeries.

Despite that, the job has brought he and his colleagues close together as they share memories of working together and helping people, he said.

” . . . These (colleagues) are the ones you sleep with, eat with, get into danger with and have fun with. To feel the camaraderie . . . I don’t think any other job is as satisfying as this one.

“When you are in a building and looking for someone, by the off-chance you find someone and save their life, that’s awesome.”

Under his command, the Fire Department has set long-range plans to build the city’s first fire station north of the San Diego Freeway and has implemented many of the safety and health-education programs now in place.

He was appointed to the State Emergency Medical Services Commission by former Gov. Edmund G. Brown Jr. and helped establish the state’s first certification program, which sets the standard for the level of competency among fire personnel.

Frank Fantino is acting chief. Interviews to choose a replacement for Petruzziello are now going on, a Fire Department source said.