3.13.2026 FRFD Promotion and Swearing-In Ceremony

Good afternoon everybody. Welcome to the sixth floor of Government Center, the flag room. At this time, I'd like to turn it over to Deputy Chief Ron Civney for welcoming remarks.

Good afternoon everyone.

It's truly an honor to stand before you today as we gather for one of the most meaningful traditions in the fire service. The present presentation of badges to our newest firefighters and the promotion of one of our own, Lieutenant Michael Lavoy.

To our new firefighters, this afternoon marks the beginning of a proud and demanding career. The badge you received today represents the city of Fall River.

It stands for courage, sacrifice, professionalism, and a commitment to serve others at the most difficult time.

You are joining a department with a long and respected history.

From today forward, you are expected to uphold those standards every single day.

Work hard, listen to your officers, take care of your fellow firefighters, and never forget why you chose this profession.

Today, we also recognize the well-earned promotion of Lieutenant Michael Lavoy.

Promotions in the fire service are not simply about rank. They are responsibility.

Lieutenant Lavoy has demonstrated the dedication, leadership, and character necessary to guide firefighters both at the emergency scene and in the firehouse.

As a company officer, he will play a critical role in training, mentoring, and setting an example for his for the members under his command.

We are confident he will continue to serve this department and the citizens citizens of Fall River with pride and professionalism.

I would also like to acknowledge the families and loved ones here this afternoon. Your support makes this career possible. You share in the sacrifices that come with this job, the missed holidays, the long shifts, and the worry that come with the work.

Today's achievement belongs to you as well.

To our new firefighters, and to Lieutenant Lavoy, congratulations.

We are proud to serve along you, with you. Wear your badge with honor, lead with integrity, and and always look out for one another. Thank you. and please enjoy the rest of this special afternoon.

Thank you, Chief. Let us welcome Michael Rine, Fall River Fire Department chaplain for our opening prayer.

Good afternoon, everyone. Certainly a joy to be with each and every one of you again in these very special ceremonies as we gather this afternoon to celebrate the promotion of firefighter Michael Lavoy to the rank of lieutenant respectably earned through his dedication and hard work and certainly the support of his fellow department members in this new rank. May you continue that

dedication and commitment and to be the the example of leadership that is truly expected to our new 11 probationary firefighters.

Thank you for answering the call to this service and to the protection of property and most importantly the lives to the best of your ability.

Firefighting is a wonderful vocation.

Welcome to these ranks again to all of you who have trained these last several months and to those who join us from other departments.

And so we ask God's blessings upon these new members and those entering the new responsibilities in our department.

Guide them in their wisdom. Provide them with the best equipment. enable them to build strong teams and encourage most importantly the fraternity that goes about each shift.

In gratitude, we thank those who have prepared our new firefighters and have taken from their experience to show them to this day.

We thank their families who have supported them and will continue to sacrifice the time away from home, not only during the regular times of year, but those times of the holiday seasons and family gatherings to know that your loved ones are protecting our city.

Continue to bless our department as it becomes stronger with more manpower.

To bless our chief and our department leaders who make the very difficult and easy in decisions to always protect the gift of life and property.

Bless our city and its leaders through the intercession of St. Florian, the patron saint of firefighters. We make our prayer through Christ our Lord.

Amen.

Thank you, Father Mike. At this time, please stand and join me for the pledge of allegiance.

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for it stands nationy andice for all.

Please have a seat.

Join me in welcoming Mayor Coogan to the stand.

First of all, we want to welcome everyone to the flag room on the sixth floor at Government Center. It's always great when we have a group of people up here for something so as as important as swearing in 11 new firefighters and uh welcoming uh firefighter Lavoy to the rank of lieutenant, which is also very special. Um the fire department in Fall River does a fantastic job day in day

out across this city keeping people safe, protecting property, and working through every crisis we have. whether it's the blizzard, a fire, or even automobile accidents, they're always on board. Um, I commend them for their efforts and I know that our new recruits are joining a very elite force and I will all I want to do is say welcome aboard. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. At this time, Fire Chief Jeff Bacon has some remarks.

I want to thank everybody for coming here today. Um, genuinely these ceremonies, promotional ceremonies and and pinningings and bringing new members into the department is one of my favorite things to do. Um, new firefighters breathe new life into a department and it's been a year since we've had that happen. So to have 11 of you going into the stations, it really reignites the firefighters desire to

train and to make themselves better. Um, so I look forward to you being there and and working hard to become the best you can be for the Fall River Fire Department and the citizens of Fall River. Lieutenant Lavoy will bring new perspectives on leadership along with fresh ideas for training and mentoring new firefighters.

All of you collectively have the ability to steer the future of this department and the roles that you will take on. But don't forget the generations of firefighters who sacrificed and worked hard to make this department what it is.

Some of those retirees are here today.

Thank you for being here.

The badge you will wear is a symbol of their collective legacy, not just your employment.

New firefighters are entering the department. Our department has a tradition, a tradition for teamwork and aggressive firefighting. And the brotherhood and sisterhood is alive and well in the city of Fall River.

As firefighters, I'm always proud that we save more property than we lose.

Typically, I often say that most of our fires aren't newsworthy because we go in and you go in and put them out before anybody even knows they happened. I challenge you to continue that tradition of training hard so when the time comes, you're ready to work hard and save lives and protect property.

Remember that you get back what you put into the brotherhood and sisterhood of the fire service. Firefighting is a team sport where no single person is better than the whole. Your career here means that teamwork doesn't start and end when you punch in and out of work. You need to look out for each other physically and mentally. For all of you, including Lieutenant Lavoy, remember, you are not

starting something new. You are continuing something important.

Tell you a little bit more about the fire department and our connection to the community.

I've prided myself in in in establishing and and strengthening our bonds with our community partners. I ask that each of you use the public trust and visibility your position provides to you as firefighters and lieutenant to make Fall River a better place. From city cleanups to Angel's Anonymous, St.

Vincent's Home, holiday gift drives, coat drives, and so many more op uh options that are available to you.

You're going to have the opportunity to make your mark in this community. Your job is to protect lives and property, but you can also use your position to protect hope for the many people in this community who need it.

I'd be remiss if I didn't thank family and friends that are here today and those who couldn't make it.

We all know that in firefighting there's going to be missed birthdays. There's going to be missed holidays. There's going to be missed time where the your firefighter will be at work when they would much rather be with you.

There's going to be long nights. There's going to be difficult calls. You will play an important role in the careers of these firefighters to be there to celebrate their victories or console them in their defeats. You are each now members of the Fall River Fire Department extended family. You will get to know the significant people in their co-workers lives. Firefighters families. You will get to know their

officers and their significant people and their families. Reach out to them for support when you need it. They're feeling the same things you are and have faced many of the same battles that you will. I can say confidently that no other department that I know of provides more support for firefighters and their families when they need it. From union to peer support to EAP and beyond, we're

only a phone call or email away. And I wrote that before Lieutenant uh Mashado sent his email today, six months after the Gabriel House fire, checking in on everybody that was at the Gabriel House, expressing his personal struggles both with that fire and other fires and offering his support. That's just a testament to who we are as a fire department and what we can provide for support for you. You're not fighting

alone in this department. No firefighter and no firefighters family stands alone.

We're connected by a web of support that carries us through the challenges of this profession.

The last thing I want to talk about is character.

Good character and bad character. I look around and see some characters in this room, but I know that each and every one of them brings a strength of character that is so important to the fire service.

I'll use Mike Lavoy as an example. I've known Mike for a very long time. He's a consmate planner. By that I mean he puts a lot of thought into everything he does. He is among the most reliable and trustworthy individuals I know and I'm sure he's going to be a great officer.

The content and depth of his character though was discovered by me at Gabriel House where he injured himself, kept battling that fire and helping people out until everything was done and only then removed himself from service for an injury and a surgery that he's still not back to work yet. So Mike Lavoy to your character in the confident.

And since we're talking about character, I have I've had the opportunity to interact with all 11 of these recruits from the time that they first interviewed to just today before we came here. And while I'm confident they will bring each of them their own personality to the department, they will work hard to become part of the team. How can I be so confident? Well, we have seven recruits here that were hired through

the local register. It's the first time that we've used that hiring process. So, we're injecting people with no real connection to the city of Fall River into our department. I've challenged them from day one when they came in two weeks ago to inject themselves into the city and make their own Fall River story. Uh these seven didn't go the typical route for training. Typically the other four firefighters they did a

EMT course with the Fall River EMS then they went to the Mass State Fire Academy and at the end of that academy there's a tradition where a plaque is presented to the um to to the training division.

We've we've trained firefighters here in Fall River and they've typically provided a plaque at the end and they're usually ornate beautiful plaques with you know some of them have an half of an SEBA bottle. I've seen axes. I've seen all kinds of stuff. So not because they are such a special group and had a pretty abbreviated uh training they they call themselves the hybrid one and this

is the beautiful ornate plaque that they presented to us today. So I am sure that they are going to fit in just well with the with the firefighters here in the for fire department. Um one last congratulations to all of you to each of you. I'm genuinely very excited to have each of you join at such a critical time for us. I know the firefighters on the job are looking forward to you guys

coming to the company so that they can stand down a little bit and uh and take a little extra time. So, good luck, work hard, and congratulations.

And without further ado, the moment that you're here for. Um, we're going to start with the presentation of badges to the new firefighters, the probationary firefighters. I'll call you up one at a time. You can accept your badge from um from firefighter Castro, and I'm going to ask you to line up diagonally starting from the podium out, and then uh Mayor Coogan's going to come going to

swear you in as official firefighters in the city of Fall River. So, probationary firefighter David D. Rogers, probationary firefighter Tevin Silva, probationary firefighter Alexander Tavvarz, probationary firefighter Connor Matthews, probationary firefighter Nicholas Fury, Probationary firefighter Noah Mard White, Probationary Firefighter Sarah Rener, probationary firefighter Christopher Sullivan,

probationary firefighter Christopher Sharp, probationary firefighter Drew Jacobs, And last but not least, probationary firefighter Anthony Byron.

And before we do the swearing in, I apologize. I I wanted to recognize City Council President Cliff Pont and City Counceler Chris Pekham for being here today, taking time out of their schedule to be here for an afternoon ceremony.

Their support goes beyond just being at this ceremony. We appreciate everything that they do for the Fall River Fire Department and public safety in the city of M of Fall River. Um so if we could give them a round of applause. Thank you for being here.

But I'll also going to ask you um uh councelor uh Canuel. Michael Canuel was wanted to be here today. He's unable to be here today due to a family emergency.

Just keep his family in your thoughts and prayers and we appreciate his support as well. So with that, um, Mayor Coogan, if you don't mind performing the swearing in for these Absolutely not.

I do want to thank the councils for being here, and I do want to thank the families for coming. I left you out earlier, but it's very important that you come and support these new firefighters in Fall River. So raise your right hand, please, and repeat after me. I state your name.

Do solemnly swear. I do that I will support the Constitution of the United States of America that I will support the Constitution of the United States of America and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts that I will obey the laws that I will obey the laws and ordinances and ordinances of the city of Fall River of the city of Fall River that I will learn, obey, and uphold

that I will turn, obey, and uphold the rules and regulations the rules and regulations of the forever fire department of the Fall River Fire Department and that I will faithfully serve the city of Fall River and that I will faithfully serve the city of Fall River in the discharge of my duties as a firefighter in the discharge of my duties as a firefighter to the best of my knowledge and ability

to the best of my knowledge and ability.

So help me God. Congrat congratulations.

Thank you sir. Thank you.

Thank you sir.

Each of them has prepared a 5 to 10 minute speech. So you guys could sit back down.

I'd now like to call Lieutenant Michael Avoy forward with his girlfriend Camille for his pinning.

Mayor Coogan, I think you should know this by heart. So, I'm trying.

Welcome, Lieutenant Lavoy. Raise your right hand, please.

I state your name. Do solemnly swear.

Michael swear that I will support the Constitution of the United States of America support and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts the commonwealth of Massachusetts that I will obey the laws I obey the laws and ordinances and ordinances of the city of Fall River the city of River that I will learn obey and uphold learn obey and uphold the rules and regulations the rules and regulations of the far department

for fire department and that I will faith faithfully serve the city of Fall River.

I will faithfully serve the city of Fall River in the discharge of my duties as a lieutenant in the discharge of my duties as a lieutenant to the best of my knowledge and ability.

to the best of my knowledge and ability.

So help me God.

So help me God.

Congratulations.

And lastly, please join me in welcoming Deputy Chief Sha Flannry for closing remarks.

Good afternoon everyone.

Before we conclude, I want to recognize an important step forward for the department. Today's promotion places Michael Lavoy into a newly created position of lieutenant within our fire prevention bureau. I want to thank Mayor Coogan and Fire Chief Bacon for working together to make this position possible.

Fire prevention is often the part of the job the public doesn't see, but it is some of the most important work we do.

The members of our of our prevention bureau spend their days identifying hazards, enforcing codes, and correcting problems before they ever become emergencies.

Their success is measured by the fires and tragedies that never happen.

For years, they've carried that responsibility while operating with limited staffing, and their work has made our city safer.

Today's promotion is an important step forward, and it also reminds us that the need for strong prevention staffing continues.

Lieutenant Lavoy brings experience, professionalism, and the respect of the firefighters he has worked alongside.

He has consistently demonstrated the ability to work well with his peers and represents this department the right way.

Those qualities matter in prevention work, and I have no doubt he will be a strong leadership addition to the bureau.

I also want to welcome our 11 probationary firefighters who will begin their assignments this Sunday.

Many of you are joining us with experience from other departments and you made the decision to continue your careers here.

That speaks to the reputation of the Farro Fire Department.

Four of our new members are beginning their career fresh out of the academy.

To you, welcome to what I believe is the greatest profession in the world.

You are joining a job built on service, teamwork, and pride.

The badge you now wear carries the responsibility to protect this community and the honor of representing the firefighters who came before you.

Across Massachusetts, the Fall River Fire Department is widely respected as one of the best firefighting organizations in the state. That reputation was built by generations of firefighters who dedicated their careers to this city and it is now something each of you will help carry forward.

To Lieutenant Lavoy, congratulations on your promotion. Welld deserved. And to our new firefighters, welcome to the fall fire department.

Stay safe, take care of each other, and thank you all for coming today.

That concludes the ceremony, but if you guys want to hang around, we're going to take some pictures. That's fine. Thank you.