New mural on building in Phoenix honors legacy of former fire chief
Jul 23, 2021, 4:45 AM | Updated: 2:20 pm
PHOENIX — Former Phoenix Fire Chief Alan Brunacini has influenced tens of thousands of firefighters around the world.
A mural painted on the side of a central Phoenix building on Osborn Road near Seventh Street honors the life and legacy of Brunacini, who served as the city’s fire chief from 1978 to 2006.
The mural, painted by David Dauncey, features a firefighter wearing bright yellow turnouts working on a fire hydrant with hundreds of feet of yellow fire hose painted along the base of the building.
The hose leads to the “Charlie” side of the building, which is fire lingo for the back of the structure.
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That’s where you get a full visual of the legacy and personality of the man who was known for firefighter safety and being nice.
“It’s a firefighter kind-of spraying water and it’s the font and wisdom of Alan Brunacini, and he was well known for that – like little one sentence, ‘timeless tactical truths’ they were called,” Nick Brunacini told KTAR News 92.3 FM on Thursday.
Nick Brunacini is one of the sons of the late former Phoenix fire chief. He owns the building where a plan has been developed to continue his father’s legacy.
Since Chief Brunacini’s retirement, the family started a business training fire service members across the world with knowledge from his 50-year fire service career.
Chief Brunacini wrote multiple books and manuals on different trainings prioritizing firefighter safety and incident command.
He recognized a gap in fire service education for incident commanders.
Working with his sons, who were also firefighters, Brunacini developed the Blue Card training, a program that trains command officers how to uniformly supervise and manage emergency incidents.
With this uniquely renovated building from the 1970’s, the Brunacini family plans to invite fire service members from across the world for training seminars.
The building, which simulates a fire station’s layout with bay doors and a captain’s dorm, includes multiple conference rooms where fire service members will be able to gather to learn together starting this September.
Just as the former fire chief sought out to make the Phoenix Fire Department a better place to work, his son wants to do just that for other fire departments looking to learn more.
Chief Brunacini left his mark on Phoenix and the fire service for a multitude of reasons, but one that will last forever is now displayed on the building – “Be nice.”
