New Canaan Selectmen promote Bassett to fire chief

Second-generation firefighter, Interim Fire Chief Albert Bassett, was named the full-time department fire chief by the Board of Selectmen on Tuesday.

Bassett, who introduces himself as Albie, started as the assistant fire chief in September coming from the Norwalk Fire Department where he had worked his way up the ranks after starting as a dispatcher 27 years ago. On Nov. 1, 2021, the selectmen voted in favor of making Bassett interim chief following Chief Jack Hennessey’s retirement. He is now the active chief, effective Tuesday.

“I think this will be the last time you're here, (for a promotion),” Selectman Kathleen Corbet said to Bassett. “It's the top. We're delighted, congratulations.”

The Silvermine resident already knew most members of the department when he became the assistant chief, since he has been an instructor at the Connecticut Fire Academy and has trained most of them.

The promotion was brought forward to the board by Human Resources Director Cheryl Pickering Jones. “I think you have all worked closely with Albe over the past six months,” she said. “He has been a tremendous asset to the town, to the fire department, and I am all in favor of seeing us promote him.”

He will oversee a department with 24 career firefighters and nearly 20 volunteers, and one that recently added a new $527,000 fire rescue vehicle to its fleet.

The Chairman of the Police Commission Jack Horner said the commission voted unanimously on Bassett’s promotion.

First Selectman Kevin Moynihan said he was “very happy” to make the motion and Selectman Nick Williams was “delighted” to second it. The selectmen voted unanimously.

Bassett thanked them “for the vote of confidence and all the support” he has received in just the six months he has worked in town.

As rare as home fires are in town, happening roughly once every six months, Bassett covered one just weeks after joining the department as a townhouse fire occurred on Park Street last October.

This was in stark contrast to his previous post in Norwalk, where the department often tackled a couple of fires each month, he said in the fall. As assistant chief in the city, Bassett worked for a population more than four times that of New Canaan with a department of 150 full-time firefighters. He looked after six facilities that included five firehouses and one apparatus maintenance facility.