Beloved MA Fire Dept. PIO Remembered for Contributions

SPRINGFIELD - Dennis Leger, the Fire Department’s former public information officer who spent 20 years photographing firefighters in action and cultivating relationships with the media to spread understanding of the fire service, died on Tuesday.

He was 68 years old.

Prior to his retirement in 2020 after 43 years in the fire service, Leger, of Monson, spent two decades tirelessly promoting the often dangerous, often tedious work of firefighters. He was the source of all information from the department to the media, and his photographs of fire scenes were often close enough to the scenes that a viewer could almost feel the heat.

“It was one of the best appointments I ever made, for the department and the community,” said retired Fire Commissioner Gary Cassanelli in a telephone interview from Florida. “He was an experienced firefighter, a skillful firefighter. I knew he had the experience and credibility to serve the department. He was the face of the Fire Department.”

Current Fire Commissioner Bernard J. Calvi, the last of three commissioners to whom Leger reported, said, “His passion and dedication to the fire service was unmeasurable.”

Added Mayor Domenic J. Sarno, “I’m very sorry to hear about Dennis’s passing. He was very dedicated to the Springfield Fire Department and did a tremendous job as the department’s (public information officer) 24/7.”

Judith Matt, president of Spirit of Springfield, with whom Leger worked on dozens of community events, said, “I don’t know when I’ve been sadder. He was a great guy.”

Leger is survived by his wife, Krystyna, and their children, son James, who is a lieutenant in the department, and daughter Jessica.

It was Leger who, building on the legacy of a well-known predecessor, the late James “Jay” Crogan, brought the Fire Department into the digital age, connecting it with residents to better understand the work done by firefighters, from prevention to the fighting of blazes.

Leger is the one who created the department’s presence on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, the three social media platforms that today have several thousands of followers, according to his successor, Capt. Drew Piemonte. “He kind of built everything we have on our social platforms,” said Piemonte.

Leger spent 43 years as a member of the department, with Cassanelli describing him as “the consummate firefighter, dedicated to the department. His service began in 1977, a career that split almost perfectly in two.

For 23 years, he worked as a line firefighter, responding to fires and other emergencies at all hours of the day and night. He was assigned to Engine 10 at the North Main Street station and later to truck D at the Oakland Street Station.

Then, from 2000 until his retirement in 2020, Leger served as an aide to the commissioner and public information officer.

In that role, he would turn out to fires and other emergencies - at all hours of the day and night - to photograph firefighters in action and to provide immediate and accurate information to the media. Over the course of his career, he shared thousands of photographs of fires and car accidents and appeared in hundreds of stand-up interviews for the TV news crews.

Though not trained in either photography or live broadcasting, he excelled at both. But his years of experience as a firefighter gave him both the credibility and a wealth of knowledge that a traditional public information officer with a journalism or communications degree could not match.

“Dennis was tireless and dedicated to his job of ensuring the citizens of Springfield understood the work of its Fire Department. He ensured that all of us in the media received the most up-to-date and accurate information,” said Cynthia G. Simison, executive editor of The Republican. “We in the media were better able to do our jobs because of his service. We in the media also share a great sense of loss with Dennis’ passing.”

On the evening of the Worthington Street gas explosion in downtown Springfield in November 2012, Leger was doing what he routinely did. He drove to the scene of a Fire Department emergency, in this case a reported gas leak at Scores Gentlemen’s Club. He was across the street from the club and on the telephone with a reporter from The Republican when the building exploded.

“It blew! The building just blew!” he shouted into the phone.

The explosion injured 18, damaged dozens of buildings and sent a shock wave that was felt for miles.

When Leger was appointed to the position in 2000, he remembered Jay Crogan and how in the intervening years following Crogan’s 1980 retirement, none of the successors in the job took photographs.

“He was my father’s age. I used to call him ‘Mr. Crogan,’” Leger recalled in an interview. “When I started, Jay Crogan was the department’s public relations guy. He had this big camera like the newspaper photographers had.”

Leger set out to follow Crogan’s lead. “When I got the job, I went to Cassanelli and said, ‘Can we get a camera? I want to take pictures like Jay Crogan did,” he said in a 2014 interview.

Not trained in photography, Leger became an information sponge, spending a lot of time getting advice and pointers on news photography from photographers with The Republican.

In 2005, a photo he took of an inferno at a two-family home on Westford Circle was featured on the cover of Firehouse magazine, an international trade publication for firefighters. For a firefighter, landing on the cover of Firehouse would be akin to a nature photographer landing on the cover of National Geographic.

He said when he started taking photos, one of his goals was to get some of his photos inside Firehouse, “never mind the cover.”

The purpose of his photos, Leger always said, was not to gain personal acclaim but to show the bravery of firefighters, “to show what firefighters do in Springfield every day.”

Years later, he would be presented with boxes of Crogan photos that he went through and archived. As he started publishing collections of the photos, all from fire scenes in the 1970s, on Facebook, it turned out to be immensely popular. People started calling him up from around the country to point out their fathers and uncles in the photos.

In addition to other duties, Leger took it upon himself to be the department archivist, according to Piemonte. Every photo he took, and as many as the Crogan photos as possible, were properly archived by date, place and names of the firefighters recorded.

Anytime a firefighter retires or dies, the department is able to reach into a historical record to present photos to the firefighter or to family, Piemonte said. All thanks to Leger, he added.

“It’s an important part of the department’s history,” Piemonte said. It is important for new generations to remember those who came before, he said.

Piemonte remembers Leger telling him as he took over the job, “Everything you need is in there. Keep it going.”

Matt said Leger was involved with dozens of events and causes throughout the city, usually behind the scenes. “He was a great ambassador for the city,” she said.

After the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, Leger organized the annual remembrance ceremony at the Raymond Sullivan Public Safety Complex on Carew Street, Matt said. He made it known that he wanted more of a permanent memorial for all the firefighters and police officers lost as result of 9/11.

Matt credited Leger with being the driving force behind the city’s 9/11 memorial at Riverfront Park. He arranged for the city to receive the steel from the World Trade Center, helped fundraise for the project and helped select the location.

“We spent a lot of hours driving around the city looking at locations,” Matt recalled of the search for a site. The memorial on the riverfront was all due to Leger, and “I want people to know that,” she said.

“He was an unsung hero. He was great at getting things done,” Matt said. “Anytime I needed something done, he was there.”

Piemonte said Leger was the guy who rallied firefighters to march in the Holyoke St. Patrick’s Parade, at Memorial Day events and dozens of community functions.

“The only reason he stayed on the job for 43 years was because he loved what he was doing,” he said.

Funeral arrangements are incomplete.

©2022 Advance Local Media LLC. Visit masslive.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.