By Tristan Hallman
The Dallas Morning News
DALLAS — Dallas Fire-Rescue Chief Louie Bright III announced Friday that he will soon end a career that started in his hometown when he was 19 years old.
Bright’s retirement, effective March 30, will end a quiet four-year tenure marked by relative peace -- excluding his leadership after a controversial line-of-duty death -- in a department that had experienced strife in the prior decade.
The Roosevelt High School alum has not had much of a media presence in his tenure, and the initial retirement announcement came in a tweet that featured what appeared to be a photo of a computer screen. The department’s Twitter account is private, meaning the information is only available to people who request to follow the public department.
The announcement
Bright, a 34-year department veteran and Dallas native, said it was “an honor” to serve the department in an official news release sent out later.
Bright will be the first fire chief since Dodd Miller retired in 1999 to leave on relatively good terms -- and even Miller, who led the department for 23 years, was under some pressure from minority groups.
Bright, who turns 54 next month, officially took over the helm of Dallas Fire-Rescue in April 2012. He immediately provided stability to a department that had been rife with internal disputes under his predecessor, Eddie Burns, who came to the department from Fort Worth.
The announcement says Bright made his decision because it’s “the perfect time to hand over the reins, spend more time with his family and pursue the next chapter in his life.”
Bright had previously served as the department’s acting chief after Burns retired, and after the man who made him an assistant chief, Steve Abraira, left Dallas amid a dispute with the city manager.
Peace in our time
The chief was often soft-spoken and rarely sought the spotlight during his time in office. He said in a 2013 interview with The Dallas Morning News that he tried to “rely on input from every one of them -- from our oldest veterans to the youngest rookies.”
The chief was generally popular with all the firefighter associations. Former Black Fire Fighters Association Vice President Delridge Williams, a captain, said relations with the chief and employees have never been better.
“That alone speaks volumes,” Williams said. “He was very inclusive with his leadership style.”
City Manager A.C. Gonzalez lauded Bright in a statement as innovative.
“Chief Bright’s leadership has led the department through challenging times, and after each challenge we have become a better department,” Gonzalez said in a prepared statement. “He championed the innovative Community Paramedic Program that has become a national model for EMS service providers. Chief Bright has also improved our ability to keep citizens safe through free smoke detector installation, fire prevention and fire safety education. He has done all of this with a calm leadership style and demeanor that values everyone.”
Spotlight on the chief
But the relationship with the rank-and-file was tested after the death of veteran firefighter Stanley Wilson in a six-alarm blaze. Investigations blasted a “cultural indifference” within the department for the preventable death and heavily faulted a deputy chief who commanded the fire scene.
The length of the investigation -- 16 months -- with few public statements left Wilson’s friends and family antsy for answers and turned up the heat on the chief. The family eventually accused the department of a cover-up for chopping down a much more critical draft version of the investigation.
Bright declined to discipline anyone involved, saying no one person “bears all responsibility” for Wilson’s death. The decision set off outrage from Wilson’s widow and among firefighters in the department, which eventually settled down.
The city is now working to implement some fixes designed to prevent a similar catastrophe in the future. Increased training for commanders, the biggest component of the recommendations, is going forward. As is fireground recording, which Wilson’s widow said is most important to her.
Bright also made news earlier this year when The News reported [http://www.dallasnews.com/news/metro/20150303-dallas-fire-chief-still-working-on-promised-college-degree.ece] that he had yet to finish his college degree. The completion of the degree was mentioned as a specific promise to then-City Manager Mary Suhm, who said she thought it was important. Bright vowed to finish his coursework this year.
Beyond Bright
The process to replace Bright will begin next month. Gonzalez said by phone Friday that he will conduct a national search for the next chief.
But a push for an insider is also likely. Dallas firefighters pride themselves on being a unique department. Williams said he would like to see an internal candidate.
“When it’s time, I hope they find someone who continues what he’s put into place,” Williams said.
Possible internal candidates could include assistant chiefs Fernando Gray, Ted Padgett, Norm Seals and Daniel Salazar. Gray, who was vaulted ahead of more experienced colleagues to the department’s No. 2 spot, was a finalist for the job in Plano.
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