Brooklyn’s religious leaders are on fire.
Bedford-Stuyvesant’s Rev. V. Simpson Turner Jr. is the newest city fire department chaplain, making him the third active fire chaplain from the borough — out of seven chaplains city-wide. The man whose job it is to ease smoke eaters and their families through bad news got a warm welcome at a swearing-in ceremony at the department’s MetroTech headquarters on Friday
“Too often FDNY Chaplains are introduced to the best people at the worst of times, tending to our loved ones at funerals and memorials,” said fire Commissioner Salvatore Cassano at the ceremony. “But this swearing-in offers a happy opportunity and reminder of the guidance they provide in times of celebration, as well.”
Turner previously served as a chaplain for the department of corrections and Sheriff’s office and is currently the pastor of Mount Carmel Baptist Church, on Quincy Street near Malcom X. Boulevard.
Fire chaplains open and close formal fire department ceremonies, arrange funerals for fallen firefighters, reach out to personnel and family members in times of need, respond to blazes that injure responders, and provide guidance to those of New York’s Bravest who seek it out.
Of the seven current chaplains, four are Catholic, two are Protestant, and one is Jewish, according to the fire department.
