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NILES -- Friends and co-workers are remembering former longtime fire Chief Charles L. Semple, 79, who died Feb. 20 at Trumbull Memorial Hospital, as a leader who who cared about his city and firefighters long after retirement.
Fire Capt. Todd Thomas said Semple was a city firefighter for 39 years, serving 22 years as chief.
"He was a good man, who always cared about the guys and asked after them even after he retired. If someone got hurt, he was the first to call and would show up at the hospital," Thomas said.
Semple oversaw the response to the May 1985 tornado.
"It knocked out all of the power lines, the phone lines. It wasn't like it is today. No one had cellphones. Even the radios they had didn't work as well. The portable ones weren't reliable," Thomas said.
Semple was able to coordinate with local, state and federal agencies to get the equipment and manpower in place to move the city forward, Thomas said.
"There was a flood of equipment coming into the city and it all had to be organized from absolutely nothing. He made the response quick and effective. It was a big thing and he did it well. Not everybody could have done that," Thomas said.
Councilman at-Large Steve Papalas, who was on council when Semple served as chief, said he was saddened to hear the news of Semple's death.
"I really got to know him in the 1980s. He worked with council on his department's budget and got what he needed for the firefighters," Papalas said.
Papalas said Semple was always "conscientious about his job and always concerned for the wellbeing of the firefighters."
Papalas remembers being at the plaza off U.S. Route 422 after the 1985 tornado.
"I was there with Mayor Jack Shaffer and the fire chief and we were all awestruck by the all the damage. (Semple) got the job done with all that happened," Papalas said. He said Semple handled the work professionally.
Semple was chief for 18 months before the tornado that took nine lives touched down. In a 2005 interview with the Tribune Chronicle, he said nothing in his training or experience prepared him for the devastation and destruction the twister wrought.
But with excellent leadership, volunteers and a massive effort, the city started to heal, Thomas said.
"Within two days, 90 percent of the city had power restored. And within seven days, we were cleaned up for the most part. In Xenia, it took more than a year," Semple said.
The shock of seeing the commercial area after the tornado had gone, Semple said, affected him greatly.
"I knew we were in for a long hard week," Semple said. "It took all the city forces, all the volunteers a week to clean up."
Semple also oversaw the creation of a mutual aid agreement between the city and Weathersfield; instituted a medical response program for the department that is still in place today, with changes; helped get the first police and fire levy passed, and made the department's budget work for 25 years with that levy, Thomas said.
"That is good management," Thomas said.
A funeral service was Friday at Niles First Presbyterian Church and arrangements were handled by the Joseph Rossi & Sons Funeral Home in Niles.