By Jeff Lipton
Now the longtime Cedarhurst resident has made history, elected last week to a chief's post, becoming possibly the only black ever to hold that position in the Five Towns.
Wright, 34, became the second deputy chief third in command in the department realizing a dream he has pursued since the beginning of the year, when he first began to entertain thoughts that he could win the position.
Wright beat out three other members of the fire department to gain the post in a members-only election on Tuesday, Dec. 3. He garnered 30 votes, two more than his closest competitor. He will assume the two-year post on Jan. 1.
I was very shocked and surprised, he said. I had figured it out and I had myself losing by one vote.
When I first joined, I didn't think it would happen, but as I worked hard at it the last 15 years, I knew someday I would become a chief here.
Wright has risen through the ranks, starting out as a firefighter, then spending three years each as a lieutenant and captain. He admits he feels some pressure to succeed at deputy chief. I have to perform at a high level and be that much better than anyone else, he said. With the knowledge of the firehouse that they taught me, it shouldn't be a problem.
Wright said some may even view him as a role model, since he is the first to achieve something that some may have thought could not happen. I think I want to show other black kids growing up, if they see me riding around in a fire truck, maybe they will decide to do the same thing, he said.
He said two other black men had joined the department, but are no longer with the department.
Wright will visit Five Towns schools and tell students that they too can achieve their goals if they put their minds to it. I hope to go to all the schools in the district and to speak to everyone in the classroom about growing up, he said. Maybe someday they'll join the fire department.
For the past 10 years, when not fighting fires, Wright has been pursuing criminals as a police officer at the 79th Precinct in Brooklyn. Over the last year and a half he has been assigned to the elite Conditions Unit at the precinct, where he has worked undercover staking out high-crime areas and trying to catch criminals in the act. He said his police work has never interfered with his firefighting duties and that will continue to be the case, even though he has assumed more responsibility as a chief. He works the overnight shift as a police officer and handles firefighting chores during the day.
I give it my all, Wright says. I sleep three hours a day.
He recalls the first fire he was ever sent out to a fire, as an 18-year-old straight out of Lawrence High School in 1988. It was a basement fire in a home on Oakland Avenue in Cedarhurst. My best friend, who got me to join, and I took the line into the basement and put the fire out, Wright recounted. That's when I knew firefighting was what I wanted to do.
When I joined, I wanted to do something to keep busy, he said. I was right out of high school and I didn't have a job.
The second deputy chief-elect of the fire department said he gets a thrill out of knowing he is helping to protect life and property in a community where he's lived for 32 years.
Wright's family expressed great pride in his achievements in the fire department. I think it's a great accomplishment, especially in today's world, to break through the race barrier, said Theresa Wright, his sister-in-law, about his election. He could be a great role model for children in the community, and people in general, to show them what one can do.
She said a black's attaining such status in the fire department is long overdue, and that it would probably encourage other minorities as well as women to join the department.
