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Hazelwood Fire Chief Radel Prepares For Retired Life After Service to City
Recalls Long Career and April 2013 Tornado
For 38 years of his life, Fire Chief Dave Radel served the citizens of Hazelwood by responding to fire and medical emergencies. He grew up in the City of Hazelwood so he was very familiar with the community and loved living in North County.
Many considered him a “hometown boy who did good.” Radel worked his way up the command ladder from an Arson Investigator to the Fire Chief of the Hazelwood Fire Department. Radel recently announced his retirement and chose Jan. 31 as his last day on duty.
The City of Hazelwood hosted a retirement party held in his honor. In a brief speech he made to a crowd of guests who came to give him their farewell wishes, Radel said, “It’s been one of the greatest honors of my life to be a member of the Hazelwood Fire Department.”
Radel has been very proud of wearing the Fire Chief badge for the City of Hazelwood. “Whenever I walk down the aisle of a grocery store or any other public setting in my uniform, people make eye contact with me and then glance down at my badge and smile. Young and old, regardless of any other factor, that’s almost a universal response,” stated Radel.
According to Radel, “There is a presumption that because of what I do for a living I am a person of integrity and service. And, while I will miss that automatic response since I won’t be wearing a badge, I will strive to live up to that presumption for the rest of my life. Being the Fire Chief of Hazelwood was the best job in the world.”
Whoever is the Fire Chief of Hazelwood also serves as the City’s Emergency Management Response Director. While Radel was the Fire Chief, an EF2 tornado hit the Hazelwood area on April 10, 2013, and caused widespread damage to trees and homes throughout the area. Although the storm had a devastating impact on many residents and local businesses, Radel believes this incident gave Hazelwood a chance to shine and showcase its ability to work fast and bring immediate relief to the storm victims.
“When the EF2 tornado hit Hazelwood, every facet of our municipal family came together and provided an incredible level of services to our citizens. Police, fire, public works (including street division, code enforcement, parks and recreation), city manager, mayor, city council, finance, city clerk, communications, IT and legal department of this City set aside their sometimes petty differences and joined forces for days on end to make sure that everyone impacted had every resource they needed at their disposal,” Radel said.
Radel says he will always remember the ride he took with Hazelwood Mayor Robinson to survey the damage. “It was about three o’clock in the morning, and I was driving the Mayor down some dark subdivision streets through the wreckage of trees and homes. We talked about what our game plan would be the next day and what we would say to the media. We also kidded each other about needing to get a couple of hours sleep before we hit the ground running again in the morning. In addition, we shared the fact that both of us have spent our entire lives in North County, and for the most part in Hazelwood,” Radel recalled.
