Fire fighters and emergency responders from Springfield and neighboring towns packed into the town hall meeting room to see Carlo Palumbo promoted to Deputy Chief of the township's fire department.

Palumbo, a longtime member of the department, has had a distinguished career as a firefighter in Springfield. As one of the initial wave of responders to 9/11, he was among 10 Springfield fire fighters to spend 36 hours covering a Staten Island Fire house whose crew had rushed to respond to the Towers.

More recently, Palumbo has been instrumental in a number of high profile emergencies, including leading the department in combating a blazing South Springfield Ave. house fire in January, 2011.  

Earlier this month, he was one of three Springfield firefighters to receive the New Jersey State F.M.B.A. EMS Medal of Distinction for his part in an emergency childbirth outside of a bank. The baby girl was born with its umbilical cord wrapped around her neck; Palumbo moved the cord to let her breath.  

Palumbo thanked the committee and Fire Chief James Sanford for trusting him with the new position. Sanford said that as Deputy Chief, Palumbo would handle much of the day-to-day command operations.

In addition to members of the Springfield fire department, Millburn Fire Chief Michael Roberts and Summit Fire Chief Joseph Houck were on hand to congratulate Palumbo on the new role.  

"We have a tremendous amount of respect for you and your accomplishments with the department," Springfield Mayor Ziad Shehady told Palumbo after he was sworn in.