Month: July 2013

Fire Department Deputy Chief Retires After 36 Years

(Bridgeport, CT – June 28, 2013) -- Deputy Fire Chief Bruce Porzelt retired Friday after 36 years on the Bridgeport Fire Department. In his three-and-a-half decades, he saved lives, witnessed death, responded to some of the city’s largest catastrophes -- and had a hard time retiring. “He’s a good friend and a better firefighter,” said Fire Chief Brian Rooney. “He served this city well for a very long time.” Porzelt joined the department in 1976 after spending six years with the Bridgeport Board of Education as a plumber and welder. He applied for the fire job on a whim. He knew a few firefighters who loved the job. It was a different era, he said. Today, firefighters spend four months…

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Bridgeport Police hold fundraiser for fallen officers memorial

Video Report-- Bridgeport Police hold fundraiser for fallen officers memorial Article by Denis J. O'Malley Connecticut Post BRIDGEPORT -- Panhandling in the city's Black Rock section took a prominent spot on the police department's agenda Monday, only it was the officers reaching out their palms. Of course, they were not collecting for themselves. Rather, the money raised from the officers' coin drop on Fairfield Avenue and a fundraiser held simultaneously at the Fire Engine Pizza Company will go toward a memorial to the city's fallen officers to be built outside police headquarters. "We want to make sure that no one ever forgets," Mayor Bill Finch said of the city's 12 fallen officers as he filled out a form to have…

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