New St. Paul district fire chiefs blazing trails

The badge had been pinned, the last step in a phoenix-like rise into the ranks of St. Paul Fire Department leaders, and now Dino Guerin stood among friends, his white shirt neat and black shoes gleaming.

"It's all about image," Guerin, the former Ramsey County commissioner and St. Paul City Council member, joked to longtime friend and political mentor Bob Fletcher.

"No, you're about substance, Dino," corrected the sheriff.

Nine years ago, Guerin, then a county commissioner, was in a veritable free fall, losing his St. Paul East Side seat to a gambling addiction. He had written $35,000 in bad checks, and been convicted for it. He served 15 days in jail, was fined, ordered to make restitution and put on probation.

Quietly, Guerin went back to work, gaining a captain's rank, and finally, on Monday, the post of district fire chief helping to oversee firefighting and emergency medical services in the department's western district.

He took tests for both jobs. But Fire Chief Tim Butler said Guerin's rise against adversity was an intangible that helped him win the new post:

"It showed me he has the gumption to stick with stuff when it gets tough," Butler said.

Politically, he opted to drop out of sight, he said, determined to rebuild his credibility and to be "promoted the old-fashioned way -- through hard work."

Following Monday morning's badge-pinning ceremony, Guerin looked out into Fire Station 8. He took in the sight of four other fire leaders who were promoted, and their family members, his wife, Mary, among them, and he paused.

"It's been an interesting ride," he said.

A pioneer, again

Also Monday, Fawn Hawkinson, one of the city's first female firefighters, made history by being named its first female district fire chief.

"I think she is a fabulous combination of a lot of the elements of our future," the chief said. He envisions a more diverse department, he said, and an educated workforce, too.

The soft-spoken Hawkinson said notching another first still meant a lot to her and other women given that only about 4 percent of those in the fire ranks -- both nationally and in St. Paul -- are female.

"But I want you to know," she added, "I work mostly with men, and they are who I am responsible to." Like Guerin, Hawkinson will oversee western district operations.

The department also presented new badges Monday to Jim Smith, assistant fire chief; Matt Simpson, deputy chief of emergency medical services, and Dennis Appleton, who as a deputy fire chief will oversee all firefighting and EMS operations citywide during his shifts, Fire Marshal Steve Zaccard said.

Smith headed the department's special operations during last year's Republican National Convention, and now is second in command to Butler, Zaccard said. Simpson won praise from the chief Monday not only for being "the perfect EMS chief," but also for his attention to detail at fire scenes.