New, colorful mural honors former fire chief near Downtown Phoenix

Nick Brunacini is paying tribute to his late father and former Phoenix Fire Chief, Alan Brunacini, with a mural just north of Downtown Phoenix.

Alan Brunacini served the City of Phoenix for 48 years, serving as fire chief for 28 of those years. He left an impact on thousands of firefighters around the world.

"It wasn't about his ego or rank for anything else of being in charge, this is our role in our community. In fact one of the biggest things he's credited for is fire department customer service. So he's defined the served we provided in the terms of the customer," Brunacini said.

Since his retirement in 2006, Alan, along with his family, started what's called the Blue Card training program to train command officers on how to manage emergency incidents.

Alan passed away in 2017. Nick came up with the idea of the mural due to the command training center opening up in central Phoenix, and reached out to artist David Dacuey.

"He's really well known for little one sentence to scriptures for anything in life. Can't change your mind in the mid-air, you know. Just that kind of stuff, folksy kind of leadership things," Brunacini said.

Nick wants people to remember the mark his father left on Phoenix.

"This kind of matches the spirit of the way he managed the Phoenix Fire Department during his life," said Brunacini. "It was more open to the community. It wasn't so bureaucratic. You're here for the people basically."

Daucey is working on the finishing touches, and the command training center will be open in September 2021.

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