CANANDAIGUA, NY — Three people trapped in a residence on Scotland Road. The home was engulfed in flames.
Sam Loiacono and Ron Bement were the only two career Canandaigua firefighters on duty when the call came in that March 2017 night.
When they arrived, Loiacono, with the help of some volunteers, put up a ladder to rescue the home’s occupants, who ended up making it out safely with their help. Bement stretched a fire hose from the truck to the home by himself to begin to attack the flames.
“Knowing there was just the two of us, I really thought that was going to be a bad, bad night and morning,” Loiacono said. “Fortunately, the outcome was the best we could hope for.”
Of course, it would be Loiacono and Bement who responded together.
Sam Loiacono, left, and Ron Bement started at the Canandaigua Fire Department together 30 years ago and retired together in 2024.
Both were hired by the Canandaigua Fire Department a week apart from each other 30 years ago. They attended fire academy and learned the firefighting job together. They’ve worked the same shift together.
They’ve responded to many calls over the years together, from house fires to car crashes to medical emergencies.
They’ve sat in the stands rooting for the New York Yankees together. Their families have vacationed together. Their kids grew up together.
Fittingly, both retired in 2024, together.
“We’d talk back and forth. ‘How much longer do you think you’re going to go?’” Loiacono said. “We both thought it would be neat to hit 30 years.”
The joke between the two was that if they came in together, they were going to leave together.
“It seemed right,” Bement said.
A Canandaigua firefighting family
Bement, who had seniority over Loiacono by a week or so, is part of a firefighting family.
His father, Tom, was a volunteer for years and Bement remembers going on calls with him as a kid. On his mother’s side, his grandfather, great grandfather and great uncle were firefighters in Clifton Springs.
Bement, for a time, worked as a paid city firefighter with an uncle. Bement’s wife, Cathy, rose to the rank of assistant fire chief as a volunteer. Their son Jake? You guessed it, a Canandaigua firefighter.
“I just grew up around the firehouse,” said Bement, who figures it was the fire trucks and the action that drew him to firefighting. “It seemed like a good job.”
Loiacono, who was working for the state highway department when he began volunteering for Canandaigua, loved it from day one.
“I loved going out helping people, all the different things thrown your way, challenging yourself to learn more, do more,” Loiacono said.
The importance of fire safety
Loiacono retired as captain, a role he’d handled for nearly 20 years. That means he was in charge at a fire scene in the absence of the fire chief. He also was tasked with making sure daily duties around the firehouse were done and training was up to snuff.
Loiacono also oversaw fire safety and education, taking him to Canandaigua schools and senior citizen living communities. He estimates he shared fire safety tips with 2,000 people a year — multiply that by 30 years to get a sense of why he considers that an important duty.
It was drilled in him at a young age.
When Loiacono was a kid, he remembers a firefighter by the name of Tom McWilliams, whom he would one day work with, who came to his school.
“I wanted to follow in his footsteps and take the lead in overseeing that,” Loiacono said.
Investigating Canandaigua fires
Bement has handled fire investigations for the last 14 or so years, including an arson case on Saltonstall Street several years ago.
It’s a job that’s not for everyone, but Bement took a liking to it.
Finding the cause of a fire is a time-consuming task, requiring attention to detail, Bement said.
“I enjoyed the mystery of it,” Bement said. “Why things work the way they work. It’s not always apparent and cut-and-dried. It’s a challenge.”
Canandaigua careers spark memories
Both remember calls, some more vivid than others.
The ones involving fatalities stick with them, because, as Loiacono said, you always wonder, did he and his fellow firefighters do everything they could? Could they have arrived sooner? Should they have done a left-hand search for a person in a fire instead of a right-hand search?
That can take a toll on you, Bement said.
“Those times pale in comparison to all the times we’ve saved somebody, a CPR save, extricating people from car wrecks, giving them that opportunity to get to a trauma center and seek the care they need,” Loiacono said. “Those were more prevalent.”
Looking back, both believe they did all they could do to the best of their abilities.
“Luckily, nothing has affected me from doing work or sleeping,” Bement said.
Easing into life after Canandaigua FD
While retired from firefighting, both are working part time.
Bement is doing what used to be called fire inspections but are now known as building safety inspections for the town of Canandaigua.
“Call it whatever you want, it’s the same job,” Bement said.
Loiacono is back with the state for the winter doing seasonal work such as plowing.
Both have earned to be at ease when a fire call goes out.
Mayor Bob Palumbo thanks both of them on behalf of the city for their years of dedication and service to Canandaigua.
“I wish them both well on whatever new adventures they have coming up,” Palumbo said.
Both Loiacono and Bement happy to have worked with each other.
Bement was steady and reliable throughout his career, Loiacono said. If a younger, less experienced firefighter worked with Bement, Loiacono knew he was in good hands.
“I knew he was going to do the right thing. I knew he was going to be there. I knew he was going to be on time,” Loiacono said. “Not a lot frazzles Ron. He’s not screaming. He’s not yelling. He’s a professional and he knows what needs to be done and knows what needs to be done right after that.”
Loiacono always had your back, said Bement, who added Loiacono and his wife would on occasion babysit their son growing up.
“He was a great firefighter, a great friend and a great guy to work with,” Bement said. “It was an honor and a privilege to work on the same shift as him, up until the end.”
Missing the days serving as a Canandaigua firefighter
For about the last year, Bement, his son and his brother worked the same shift as Loiacono, who joked that he needed to change the name on the back of his coat because he felt out of place.
So, the Bements made sure he had a coat, with the their name on it.
Both said they will miss aspects of the job, especially the camaraderie with other like-minded firefighters and helping others on their worst days.
“It was a good run,” Bement said.
Loiacono grew up in the city and continues to live in the city.
“To me, this was my city,” Loiacono said. “When I was working my shift, this is my city tonight. I’m going to make sure everybody is OK.”
Mike Murphy covers Canandaigua and other communities in Ontario County and writes the Eat, Drink and Be Murphy food and drink column. Follow him on X at @MPN_MikeMurphy.
This article originally appeared on Rochester Democrat and Chronicle: Ron Bement and Sam Loiacono retire from Canandaigua Fire Department