Mn. Fire Chief Credited with Starting Paramedic Program Dies at 87

March 06--Stephen Conroy, St. Paul's longest-serving fire chief at more than 20 years, died this week at age 87.

He was credited with bringing innovations to the fire department -- including starting the paramedic program, which helped shape the department into what it is today -- though he left in the wake of controversy.

Conroy took a leave of absence after newspaper reports said he tolerated shoddy fire investigations and associated with people who profited from arson. A subsequent federal investigation found no evidence of criminal activity on Conroy's part.

People remembered Conroy favorably Thursday, two days after his death.

"For what he accomplished in the fire department, I think he'll go down in history as the best fire chief in the city," said Gary Olding, a retired assistant St. Paul fire chief. "He surrounded himself with sharp people."

Conroy joined the fire department in 1950 and became fire chief in 1966. He grew up in St. Paul and attended Mechanic Arts High School, said his son, Stephen Conroy Jr. He enlisted in the U.S. Navy during World War II and served on a transport troop ship.

When he returned, Conroy worked as a tailor before he became a firefighter, his son said.

When Conroy was appointed fire chief, he recounted his interest in the fire service. He became acquainted with firefighters when he had a newspaper route and picked up his papers at a fire station, "and was fascinated by the stories they told about how they managed to douse some of the big fires here," he told the St. Paul Dispatch in 1966.

"I made up my mind that if I had a chance, I would become a fireman someday."

And he loved it, Stephen Conroy Jr. said.

"That was his life," he said. "That's all he talked about, even when he had Alzheimer's in the early stages."

George Latimer, who was St. Paul's mayor when Conroy was chief, said the man "had a great, quiet wit and a terrific trust level with the firefighters he was responsible for."

St. Paul Fire Marshal Steve Zaccard, whom Conroy hired for the job in 1984, described Conroy as "an innovator and a leader."

Conroy started the fire department's paramedic service in 1973, and that now accounts for 77 percent of the department's emergency work, Zaccard said. The decision to start the paramedic service was likely Conroy's most important, Latimer said.

Conroy was also proud of ushering in the Opticom system, his son said, which permits emergency vehicles to change red traffic lights to green.

The longtime fire chief professionalized the fire prevention staff and started the department's public education program, Zaccard said. That includes a fire-play intervention program, for kids in trouble for playing with fire. The program came about after half the city's fire deaths were caused by fires set by children in 1987 and 1988; since it began, there has been only one fatal child-set fire, Zaccard said.

Conroy hired the first uniformed women in the department -- they were fire inspectors -- and started the department's hazardous materials team, which responds to emergencies statewide, Zaccard said.

Under Conroy's watch, firefighters battled the Commodore Hotel blaze in 1978, "one of the most difficult and dangerous situations ever faced by St. Paul firefighters," Richard Heath wrote in his book "St. Paul Fire -- A History." There were 43 firefighters and 29 civilians needing hospital treatment, and Conroy was injured but refused medical treatment until the fire was controlled, Heath wrote.

In 1989, Conroy took leave from the fire department after the Minneapolis-based Star Tribune published articles that linked the fire chief to people who profit from arson. The newspaper won a Pulitzer Prize for the coverage.

Conroy denied the accusations, and the U.S. attorney's office conducted an investigation that found no basis for criminal charges. An administrative law judge concluded that evidence did not demonstrate misconduct or incompetence on Conroy's part. In 1990, Conroy reached an agreement with the city that he would resign in 1991.

Heath wrote in his book on the history of the fire department: "Few chiefs could match (Conroy's) record of progressive professional, technical, and institutional change. ... At the same time, there is no question that his ethically questionable business associations destroyed both his effectiveness and his public acceptability as chief. He left a highly skilled and effective but badly factionalized and demoralized fire department."

The circumstances under which Conroy left the department were hard on him, his son said, though he kept up with other retired firefighters.

Conroy, who'd been living in St. Paul, died of pneumonia at St. John's Hospital, said Stephen Conroy Jr. In addition to his son, he is survived by daughters Kathy Sandstrom and Jill Suh.

Mass of Christian burial will be at 10 a.m. Saturday at Church of the Assumption, 51 W. Seventh St., in St. Paul, with visitation one hour before. Conroy's remains will be interred Monday at Fort Snelling National Cemetery.

Mara H. Gottfried can be reached at 651-228-5262. Follow her at twitter.com/MaraGottfried.

Copyright 2015 - Pioneer Press, St. Paul, Minn.