BURBANK'S NEW CHIEF A UNITER PANSINI TAKES FIRE DEPARTMENT HELM.

Byline: Jason Kandel Staff Writer

BURBANK - A 26-year veteran of the Burbank Fire Department, Tracy Pansini describes himself as an ``in-the-trench guy'' who has gone out on ``too many fires to count.''

That's why the then-assistant chief had a tough decision to make eight months ago, when he was offered a promotion to interim chief - a step that led to his appointment last week of the 145-member department.

``I'd never done the administrative function of the Fire Department,'' said Pansini, who becomes the sixth chief since 1935, the year the department became an all-paid force.

``I was always a ground-pounder. I'm an in-the-trench guy. I get in the trench, get dirty, roll around and I get the job done like everybody else, regardless of rank.''

Pansini, 50, of Shadow Hills, was hired after a nationwide job search and interviews by panels of fire and city officials and residents.

``His interim leadership has been incredible,'' City Manager Mary Alvord said during the change of command ceremony held Wednesday at Fire Department headquarters. ``He won the respect of the entire executive team. I couldn't be prouder.''

Pansini is taking the $150,684-a-year post after serving as interim chief since May, when he replaced former Chief Mike Davis.

``He leads by example,'' said Capt. Lew Stone, the president of the Burbank Fire Fighters Local 778, the union that represents 120 active firefighters and 80 retirees. ``When he was a captain, he was on the roof with his guys cutting the hole. He held the nozzle, pushing the head right into the seat of the fire.''

Pansini, a Verdugo Hills High School graduate, didn't start out as Pansini the firefighter.

He was enrolled in pre-veterinarian classes at Pierce College when the Mill Creek Fire broke out in the Angeles National Forest in 1975, and his home in Big Tujunga Canyon was surrounded by fire.

Pansini and three friends grabbed garden hoses and managed to save his house.

``Tracy grabbed some hoses, and he said, 'Come on let's go on the roof. We got on the roof and started putting out some hot spots,'' said Tony Varela, 49, a lifelong friend of Pansini's and an assistant chief of the Los Angeles Fire Department. ``I thought he was nuts. I could see Tracy taking a look at that, and saying 'I can do this. I could be a firefighter.'

``Tracy lived up to every expectation I had of him as a friend. He is truly a doer.''

Pansini joined the Burbank Fire Department in November 1979 and has since gone on ``too many fires to count.'' In the beginning, he said, he was ``too stupid to know if they were harrowing'' and went on ``gut instinct.''

In 1981, he became a paramedic firefighter. During a rotation through Providence Saint Joseph's Medical Center, he said, he recalled helping a man who had walked into a spinning propeller at the Burbank Airport - and survived.

``That was incredible,'' Pansini said. ``That was the worst injury I had ever seen where somebody was still talking and was coherent.''

Later, Pansini trained in hazardous materials and responded to fires at the Skunk Works facility, Lockheed Martin's top-secret lab where the U-2, the SR-71 and the F-117 were built.

``Normally what we're fighting in town is wood, paper, things like that,'' Pansini said. ``But to go out there and see all these chemicals and processes that were top secret, that were so exotic ... We had to go in in special suits and open up the ovens and remove the material that was burning. It was incredible.''

In 1992, Pansini became one of a few hundred firefighters from around the country on an elite ``Red Card'' team, on call to respond to wildfires anywhere in the West.

``My goal is to build better relationships,'' Pansini said. ``Fires don't just burn on one jurisdiction or on one city's soil. They run many jurisdictions. Only through working together and collaborating are we going to be successful.''

Jason Kandel, [phone]

jason.kandel(at)dailynews.com

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Photo:

After 26 years ``in the trenches,'' Tracy Pansini is promoted to Burbank Fire Department chief Wednesday. His wife, Dana, right, looks at his new badge before pinning him.

Tina Burch/Staff Photographer