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the Lockport Legend | August 17, 2017 | 3
Lockport Fire says farewell to chief after 37 years
Brittany Kapa, Assistant Editor
After 37 years with the
Lockport Township Fire Protection
District, David Skoryi
is adamant that he did not
leave a legacy.
“I had the opportunity to
guide a bunch of people in the
right direction,” Skoryi said.
Skoryi grew up in Lockport,
and even as a small
child knew he wanted to become
a firefighter when he
was older.
“I would say I’m the luckiest
person in the world,”
Skoryi said. “Most kids want
to grow up and be a fireman
or a policeman or a doctor
or something. I got to grow
up and be a fireman. And not
only did I get to be a fireman,
but I got to experience every
aspect of the fire department.”
Skoryi’s storied 37-year
career has allowed him to
become a sort of renaissance
man when it comes to his
knowledge of the fire district.
Paul Hertzmann, now acting
fire chief in Skoryi’s absence,
was trained by and
worked with Skoryi as a
paramedic back in 1989 for
the first district. In addition
to Skoryi working as a paramedic,
he worked as a firefighter,
was the first full-time
training officer in the history
of the district, first battalion
chief and was assistant fire
chief before taking over the
role as fire chief in 2010,
Hertzmann said.
“He was great to work
with,” Hertzmann said. “He
was always very level-headed
and a very methodical
thinker. He never got excited;
he always remained calm in
emergency situations.”
The district said their final
farewells to Skoryi Aug. 4 at
the Lockport Township Fire
Protection District. Skoryi’s
badge number was retired
and he was given one last
ride home in one of the department’s
fire trucks.
“Being the fire chief is a
temp job,” Skoryi said about
his departure from the district.
“People don’t look at it
like that but it is; it’s a temp
job. I was able to have the
temp job for a certain period
of time and my mission was
to build upon what the people
before me made and try to
make it better.
“Now that I’m gone, whoever
comes in behind me it’s
their mission to build upon
what I did and make it better
than what I did.”
Learning on the job
Skoryi has always taken
the time to soak in as much
information as possible at
the Lockport Fire Protection
District.
“One of my mottos – I have
these one-liners that I always
kind of buy into – is I try and
learn something from everybody,”
Skoryi said. “I think
I did that over my time from
everyone I worked with. I
tired to take something that
they did and build upon that.”
When Skoryi started
working for the Lockport
Township Fire Protection
District, there were only two
stations, one radio per station
and three self-contained
breathing apparatuses. At
that time, there were just 22
people working for the district.
Now, Skoryi has seen
the district grow to six stations
and 100 employees.
Each firefighter is equipped
with a self-contained breathing
apparatus, a radio and is
knowledgeable in all areas
from emergency medical
training to hazardous material
cleanup.
“One of the things I used
to talk about in public talks
is that every 10 years there is
something else that becomes
the responsibility of the fire
service,” he said. “Back in
David Skoryi (right) visits with State Sen. Pat McGuire.
Photos Submitted
1970 it was paramedics ... in
the ‘80s it was hazardous materials
... then the ‘90s came
along and it was technical
rescue ... and then the 2000s
came along and that was after
Sept. 11, so then it became
homeland security.”
In comparison to when he
started, Skoryi said the fire
trucks have gotten much bigger
as a means to accommodate
all the extra equipment
the firefighters need.
“The guys know how to do
all of it,” he said. “One of the
things I always told the guys is
that we train, and we train and
sometimes it does get monotonous
because you’re training
so much. But when those guys
have to execute – I’ve told the
guys this many times – [they]
execute with the accuracy of a
navy seal team.”
Getting back to basics
Whether it was one call per
night or five, Skoryi has spent
the last seven years constantly
checking his cell phone for
updates about the district. So,
one of his first acts after retiring
is to separate himself
from that constant stream of
information.
“I’m just going to readjust
from being the fire chief because
now I’m just Dave,”
he said.
Originally, Skoryi had
planned on retiring in October
2017, but moved up his
retirement by a few months.
“You always ask all the
people you work with how
you know when it’s time to
retire and they will always
tell you that you’ll just know
it,” Skoryi said. “I came to
that point. It was time for
me to walk away and let the
next generation of leaders
take over control of the department.”
While he has no definite
plans for retirement, there are
a few things he is looking forward
to doing.
“First thing I’m going to do
is take a breath,” he said. “I
have been chief since 2010,
and I have been involved in
the administration much longer
than that – cellphones are
fantastic – but when you’re
an administrator they never
let you leave work.”
Skoryi talked about how
he would wake up in the
morning and the first thing he
would do is check his phone
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