Mike DiLeo reflects on satisfying 50 years with Brooksville Engine & Hose Company

He was there for the fire that destroyed Gulliver’s Night Club and killed 24 people. He was there for the blaze that overtook the old Russell, Burdsall & Ward Nut and Bolt factory and burned for three days. He was there for flames licking the sides of an Irving Avenue apartment building on a frigid December night, cold enough to freeze a hose under a foot of water. And he was there when five high school students flew up the hill on Olivia Street, crashed into a pole and died.

Mike DiLeo has seen a lot in the 50 years he’s served as a Port Chester Fire Department volunteer with the Brooksville Engine & Hose Company. And he’s done a lot, too—he was captain of the company from 1980-1981, president from 1983-1984 and again from 2017-2021 and he served as chief of the department in 1993.

“It’s still sinking in,” he said. “It doesn’t feel like it’s been 50 years.”

But being a firefighter has never been about seeking recognition for the 73-year-old. He wouldn’t have volunteered a half century ago if it was.

“It’s very satisfying to know that in some way, you are helping the general public,” he said. “If you don’t care about mankind, you’re not going to do this.”

DiLeo volunteered in September 1972 at the age of 23. Back then, it was a tradition to join the fire department when you came of age.

In his youth, like many others his age, he was an Explorer Scout. The organization focused on service as a facet of the Boy Scouts of America and trained its members for many of the situations they could encounter as a firefighter.

Most young men, DiLeo said, volunteered with their local fire departments when they turned 18 and graduated from being a Scout. He said he would have done that himself, but he became focused on his career instead.

After graduating high school, he attended Fordham University from 1967-1971, where he studied pharmacy. He said he felt he didn’t have enough time to commit to his studies and to volunteering with the fire department.

He quickly decided, however, that he couldn’t suffer through another organic chemistry class, so he dropped out in 1971. He took some classes in business, and they had piqued his interest, so he decided to pursue a career in the corporate sector.

The Indian Road resident became a teller at the County Trust, which was later absorbed by the Bank of New York.

Less than a year later, DiLeo volunteered with the Brooksville Engine & Hose Company.

Back in 1972, he said fires weren’t as dangerous for firefighters. Houses were made of straw, wood and other natural materials and didn’t often contain vinyl and plastics that release harmful chemicals when they combust.

Firefighters would go in without masks or oxygen tanks, take care of the fire, and leave.

DiLeo said he witnessed firsthand the changes to safety regulations that were made in the fire department over the years—and not just in his decades serving as a volunteer.

After a few years employed at the County Trust, he worked in the wholefoods produce industry with a high school buddy for a while before settling into the career from which he retired: managing and cleaning up hazardous work waste. In that role, he was tasked with mitigating various chemicals and toxins from factories, dry cleaners and other businesses using them.

His experiences in that role taught him the intricacies of chemical reactions and gave him a unique perspective on the chemistry of fires, he said, which he was able to use over the decades.

Beyond remembering the fires he’s battled, DiLeo said he remembers the camaraderie of his company and of the department. He recalls long, late nights fighting fires downtown in below freezing temperatures, icicles forming on his gear. He said he and other firefighters would take turns getting coffee at local cafés and restaurants to warm up before returning to the blaze they were conquering.

It was connections he made during those nights and throughout his time in the department that led to his running for and eventually becoming chief, he said.

The incumbent chiefs are always looking for men to run for their spots since their terms are up after two years, DiLeo said. By the late 1980s, he had built himself a reputation in the department, and it became known to the current chiefs, who told him to run.

So he did, and despite losing the spot for second assistant chief by one vote in his first election, he ultimately won it during his second run. He served in that role for two years, then as first assistant chief, then became chief in 1993.

However, DiLeo resigned his commission halfway through his term as head chief, citing health concerns and issues.

But being chief, if even for a year, was an experience that connected him to lots of people across Westchester and New York. He got to network with chiefs from other fire departments and was able to use his position to advocate for the department at Village Board meetings, securing funding and support from elected officials.

After he stepped down, he joined the Port Chester Past Chiefs Association, of which he currently serves as treasurer, and he said he has been able to remain connected to others who had his role to continue making a difference in the department. As treasurer, he said he’ll be a quintessential part of securing and organizing funding for next year’s celebration when the Port Chester Fire Department turns 200 years old.

DiLeo also serves as secretary of his company, where he oversees a myriad of responsibilities, including ensuring volunteers pay their dues each year and attend enough meetings.

He also indirectly deals with recruitment in that role, which he said has been a struggle for the department in recent years. Younger generations don’t want to commit to the hours upon hours of training required to be a firefighter, and even when they do, he said they tend to quit the department when they get married and start families, unwilling to continue putting in the time.

Putting his current and former roles aside, DiLeo reiterated that the most important and memorable aspect of his 50-year service with the Brooksville Engine & Hose Company is the impact he felt he made on the lives of those he’s assisted—despite the times he put his life in danger or saw things he said he’ll never be able to forget.

 “At times, it’s terrifying. It’s very psychologically hard at times,” he said. “But in the long run, the satisfaction that you get knowing that, in your own little way, you did something to help, that’s what keeps [me] going.”