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WILKES-BARRE — While the firefighters waited their turns to be promoted, Mia Gutowski fidgeted.

The toddler grew restless during the swearing-in ceremony Tuesday morning as Mayor George Brown and Fire Chief Jay Delaney described the added responsibilities and duties that come with the promotions.

When it was time for David Gutowski to take the oath as one of the six new captains, his youngest daughter joined him with her sister Madison, 6, and brother Ryan, 10 and mother Robin. Mia leaned forward from the arms of her mom, put her right hand on a Bible just like her father and listened.

But it was a brief break as the little girl scampered back to her grandparents in the bleachers of the Scandlon Gymnasium at King’s College where families and firefighters gathered in a venue large enough for them to spread out and maintain a safe social distance during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

“It’s hard to sit still when you’re three,” Robin Gutowski said of Mia.

No apology was necessary, however. Families mattered and provided the support for firefighters whose often put themselves at risk to help and protect others, a point Delaney stressed.

“You are on the front lines as tragedy strikes. People are running out of a fire, you are running in at great risk of your life maybe in jeopardy,” Delaney said.

Brown added their promotions elevated them to leadership roles demanding “courage in your decisions,” combined with “confidence in your direction” given to firefighters and “integrity and truthfulness.”

“You have to focus on safety. I want each of you coming home the same way you left your home in the morning or that evening,” Brown said.

The words rang true to newly promoted Assistant Chief Christopher Buchanan, who has been with the department for nearly three decades. “I’m honored. I’m humbled,” Buchanan said.

Buchanan said that he and the other new Assistant Chief Mike Bilski will oversee the shifts in the department of 66 fire fighters. The assistant chief position has an annual base pay of $83,616.

Named as new captains were Gutowski, John Kirn, Kevin Kovach, Eric Serafin, Travis Temarantz and Jeremy Cook. The annual base pay for a captain is $73,438.

Capt. Temarantz added another chapter to his family’s firefighting history. His father, Hanover Township Fire Chief Joe Temarantz, and brother Joe III, a firefighter in Arlington County, Virginia attended the ceremony.

“It goes deep, all the way from his dad and his grandfather to actually his great, greatgrandfather,” Chief Temarantz said of the family’s history.

Fire Department Chaplain, the Rev. Duane Gavitt, delivered the closing invocation and offered a confession of sorts.

“On a personal note, I don’t get to do this very often, ’cuz I don’t have a family. All of you do,” Gavitt said.

The priest recalled his service in Mountain Top and a connection he made with the family of one of the newly promoted captains.

“I baptized John Kirn a long time ago,” Gavitt said. He also stood with Kirn at his marriage and spoke of Kirn’s grandfather who was a volunteer firefighter in Mountain Top.

Gavitt touched on the importance of family.

“But as you guys leave today, carry those moments with you as well, all your moments of sacrifice, attentiveness, care for them,” Gavitt said. “It is so important that they know you are there for them and with them.”

Wilkes-Barre City Fire Dept. promotes eight