Bridgeport Fire Chief Phil Hart to Retire after 36 Years
By Jeff Toquinto on September 24, 2025
The City of Bridgeport will soon be losing one of its longest serving employees as well as a department head as Fire Chief Phil Hart has submitted his resignation to retire and it will go into effect at the end of next month.
Hart, 65, formally submitted his intentions to retire Tuesday. His last day on the job will be Oct. 31, which will end 36 years of service to the Bridgeport community.
The long-standing chief is stepping down to spend time with family due to health issues. The health issues are not those of Chief Hart.
Hart started with the city in October of 1989. He began as a firefighter/EMT before eventually becoming a paramedic and working his way up through the ranks, eventually being named chief in May of 2016.
“Initially, I never even had an intention of being a paramedic, but when I got in and realized the EMS section had a lot of calls that was a big part of the job requirement here. I got the training to provide a better service, and to better help those calling on us for help,” said Hart. “If you were going to advance through the ranks, you had to be a paramedic.
“I never got into the business wanting to be chief,” he continued. “My goal was to be a paid firefighter somewhere. When I started here that 
was a dream come true.”
was a dream come true.”
Hart’s desire to be a firefighter was not the sole result of being fascinated with firefighters and their trucks as a child. However, he was around plenty of firefighters and the related equipment, which fueled his desire as a child. Being around the profession was a certainty in the Hart household.
“My father (Bob, who has since passed away) started at the Belington Fire Department in Barbour County in 1942,” said Hart, who said his brothers, one of which (Mike) who survives, all got into the business of being a firefighter.
Hart became a junior firefighter at 16 in Belington. To this day, he still serves as a volunteer with that department and will continue to do so. 
In fact, he has been with that department for an astounding 49 years – and as noted will be continuing as needed and when available.
In fact, he has been with that department for an astounding 49 years – and as noted will be continuing as needed and when available.
“I’ll stay as a volunteer for a while,” said Hart. “I’ll do the paperwork like the fire reports and with volunteers dwindling down, many working during the day, it’s hard to find drivers for the apparatus, and I can do that.”
He will also spend more time with his wife and family. And a big part of that family involves his grandchildren.
“I’ve got six grandbabies at home,” said Hart. “Two of them are really young – one five months and one four months.”
Even with that and family medical issues, Hart said he talked with family, and prayed, about whether he should step down. In the end, he knew it was the right thing to do and the right time to do it.
“The ability to be able to help people and work with a staff that was incredible made me, and still makes me, want to be at work every day,” he said. “We have a great group of dedicated guys that are highly trained that have made this job, particularly as chief, extremely easy.
“Being a paid firefighter is the greatest job in the world,” Hart continued. “It’s been made even better by those I’ve been able to work with and past and present city administrations that have given us the resources needed to protect this community. I’ll miss it.”
Editor's Note: Top photo shows Chief Phil Hart in front of one of the city's fire trucks, while in the second photo, by Ben Queen, it shows Hart on the scene of a fire handling orders. In the third photo, Hart is shown receiving an award after putting his own life in peril while helping get a woman out of a burning structure in Belington. Bottom photo shows Hart in his office doing administrative duties.
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