NEW: Denis Leary Donates Fire Truck to Worcester

Friday, April 27, 2012

GoLocalWorcester News Team

Actor Denis Leary

He wasn’t on a television set this time and he wasn’t wearing a prop uniform. Denis Leary stood outside the Grove Street Fire Department headquarters in Worcester Friday to deliver a very real performance.

Through his 11-year-old Leary Firefighters Foundation, he announced the donation of an approximately $50,000 2012 Chevrolet Silverado pickup truck that will be used to tow the department’s special ops foam trailer. It will also tow a tech rescue trailer used in trench and other rescue efforts. But the popular comedian, actor and star of FX’s “Rescue Me,” which is no longer on the air, wouldn’t accepting any platitudes.

“I really don’t do anything,” he said during a press conference at the Grove Street fire department. He spoke to a crowd of well over a 100, about 90 percent of which he joked were family members. Leary grew up in Worcester. In fact, there were several media members, city officials and, of course, firefighters, including a new class of 31 recruits.

“I’m just the famous guy who gets up in front of the microphone and says we need money,” Leary said. “The real work is done behind the scenes. I get way too much credit for this stuff.”

Firefighters around the country would disagree. Since Leary’s foundation has been in place, it has raised more than $10 million for fire departments nationwide. In Worcester, the foundation was directly responsible for the approximately $2-million burn building, a training facility that has been used by firefighters from as far away as New York.

“In every city in America, every fire department is in need of equipment and training, not mention pay raises,” Leary cracked.

City Manager Michael O’Brien, who spoke along with Fire Chief Gerard Dio, said the city has pay raises for firefighters included in its fiscal 2013 budget proposal.

Dio joked that a visit to the station from Leary never gets old, because “It’s always nice to get free stuff.”

Speaking exclusively with GoLocalWorcester after the press conference, Leary was both the comedian and serious commentator, joking that, “if a real fire broke out right now, I would knock over old ladies. Now, if it’s a fake fire, I’m real good at that.”

He turned serious when he criticized cities and towns for repeatedly turning to fire departments for budget cuts.

“Firefighters never go on strike,” he said. “I don’t understand why a city would say we’re going to cut the firefighters’ budget. I mean, I do, because they’re the easy target.”

Ultimately, Leary said, there is a need for federal funding for first responders, an effort for which he said he has lobbied.