Fire Service Remembers Newcastle Firefighter as Leader, Mentor

Newcastle Assistant Fire Chief Mike Santos narrates a Jaws of Life demonstration during an open house at the Newcastle fire station Sept. 8, 2012. Santos was a leader in firefighter training efforts as the president of the Lincoln County Fire Academy. (J.W. Oliver photo, LCN file)

Newcastle 1st Assistant Fire Chief Michael “Newman” Santos died unexpectedly Friday, Jan. 16. Santos, 67, was the president of the Lincoln County Fire Academy and authored “The

Hose Line” column for The Lincoln County News.

Newcastle Fire Chief Clayton Huntley remembers Santos as a front-line firefighter, a thoughtful leader, and a patient mentor for young firefighters.

“He had to be on the front line,” Huntley said. “There was no such thing as the rear with Newman.”

“If he wasn’t on the nozzle, he was the next guy back – giving directions, commanding the attack crew,” Huntley said. At car accidents, he would lead extrication

efforts.

Santos was always ready to respond at a moment’s notice. “He had the highest attendance to emergency calls of anybody in the department other than myself,” Huntley

said.

He logged the most training hours in the department for four or five consecutive years, Huntley said.

Santos joined the Newcastle Fire Department in 2004, soon after he and his wife moved to Newcastle from his native Massachusetts.

“He was a member of the department in his hometown for a short while and he had the interest and he wanted to volunteer,” Huntley said. “He figured this was the best

way to be a part of the community.”

Shortly after he joined the department, he obtained his nickname.

Huntley has trouble with new names, and “I never could remember the name Santos,” he said. One day, Santos left a note for the chief.

“He signed it, ‘The New Man,'” Huntley said. The next day, Santos asked Huntley if he had received the note. “I said, ‘I sure did, Newman,'” Huntley said. “From

there on in, it was Newman.”

The vanity plate on Santos’ pickup truck reads “Newman,” his house-painting business became Newman’s Painting, and his pen name for “The Hose Line” was “Captain

Newman.” Young firefighters often knew Santos by his nickname only.

Santos quickly rose through the department ranks. He was a captain and 2nd assistant chief before his most recent promotion to 1st assistant chief. The position

ranks third after the chief and deputy chief.

Firefighters elected and twice re-elected Santos to the Newcastle Fire Company Inc. Board of Trustees, which governs the nonprofit organization.

“It’s a position he took very seriously and he was very good at,” Huntley said. “Newman was one of our thinkers. He wasn’t so outspoken at meetings, but when he did

speak, you’d listen.”

After his promotion to 2nd assistant chief, Santos joined the Lincoln County Fire Chiefs Association. He had obtained his state certification as an instructor and

soon became active with the association’s fire academy.

As at the Newcastle department, Santos quickly rose through the ranks, becoming vice president and president.

Alna Assistant Fire Chief Roger Whitney is the vice president of the academy.

“His real passion was training and the county fire academy,” Whitney said. By the time the academy’s annual Basic Fire class would wrap up in the spring, Santos

would already be planning and recruiting for the next year’s class.

One of his major initiatives as president of the academy was to offer on-island training to firefighters on Monhegan, some 10 miles offshore. Santos and several

other instructors traveled to the island the last two summers. “That was all Mike’s doing,” Whitney said.

Santos’ legacy will continue through these efforts. A Basic Fire class will start at the academy in February with Santos recruits, and instructors will return to

Monhegan in a few months for the third consecutive summer.

Huntley and Whitney said Santos’ temperament made him an ideal instructor.

Santos “had a great sense of humor, but yet he could really lay the law down” when necessary, Whitney said. “He was an absolute stickler for safety.”

“He was a mentor to many newer people,” Huntley said. “He could make you feel welcome, but still be strict enough to teach you the rights and the wrongs.”

Other instructors might grow frustrated with a struggling new recruit, Huntley said. Santos “could see something in them and bring it out of them.”

Santos was liked and respected by his fellow instructors.

“He was just an all-around dynamo,” Whitney said. “Little guy, lot of energy, lot of enthusiasm.”

“I can’t think of a more fine person than him in the fire service, and that goes for pros too,” Whitney said. “I know a lot of pros, I know a lot of volunteers, and

he’s right up there with the finest.”

“He was a great leader of the academy,” Whitney said.

Santos’ focus on safety extended to his long-running column in The Lincoln County News, evident in his traditional sign-off: “Be safe out there.”

The column reported on Newcastle Fire Department news, from calls to trainings to a Halloween party or open house, and often included humorous anecdotes and safety

tips.

Local firefighters have been shocked and saddened by the loss of their friend and leader.

The Newcastle department met Sunday, Jan. 18. “It was just a coffee and a get-together and a talk,” Huntley said. The room was quiet. “The only way I can explain it

is, a sad bunch of firefighters here.”

Huntley said it will be a long time before he stops expecting to see Santos walk into his office. He would stop by almost daily to talk with the chief.

“He will be sadly, sadly missed here by everybody,” Huntley said.

Born Jan. 7, 1948 in Provincetown, Mass., Michael Santos worked as a commercial fisherman and later a house painter in Massachusetts. He and his wife, Paula Santos,

bought land in Newcastle in 2002 and he built their home.

A memorial service will take place at the Newcastle fire station, 86 River Rd., at 1 p.m., Saturday, Jan. 24. Former Newcastle Fire Department Chaplain Jim O’Brien

will conduct the service.

Everybody is welcome to attend. Santos “wouldn’t have it any different,” Huntley said.