Groton — Dozens of firefighters from the Naval Submarine Base Fire Department and departments across Connecticut gathered Wednesday on the pier at the Submarine Force Museum, with firetrucks lining the parking lot, to celebrate the posthumous induction of SBFD Assistant Chief Kenneth "Kenny" J. Jeffery into the Navy Fire and Emergency Services Hall of Fame.

His son, Timmy Jeffery, recalled that his father had three loves: his family, the Submarine Base Fire Department and the New York Yankees — and there was a debate over the order. To honor the third love, a recording of Frank Sinatra's "New York, New York" played at the end of the ceremony, following a patriotic medley from the New London Firefighters Pipes & Drums.

Timmy Jeffery followed in his father's footsteps and is now a New London firefighter.

"My father loved hard and fought even harder," he said, pointing to Kenny Jeffery's work with former state Sen. Cathy Cook to obtain thermal imaging cameras for fire departments across Connecticut. They presented the initiative to former Gov. John Rowland in August 2003, and Rowland allocated $3 million to purchase cameras for 300 fire departments across the state.

That was not long before Kenny Jeffery died.

He reported for work on Lower Base on Christmas Day in 2003, and after being dispatched to a fire alarm activation to check on the device, he told co-workers he felt discomfort in his chest. He was treated by EMTs and taken to the hospital, where he was treated for a heart attack before being taken by helicopter to Hartford Hospital.

Kenny Jeffery died Dec. 31, 2003, at age 51 from a ruptured aorta.

The lifelong Windsor Locks resident had joined the Naval Submarine Base New London Fire Department in 1979, rising to assistant chief of operations for the overnight shift in 1991. He also served as fire chief of the Windsor Locks Fire Department starting in 1998 — a goal that he had articulated in his high school yearbook, according to his biography in the program for Wednesday's ceremony.

"He was a mentor, he was an instructor, he was an EMT, he was a firefighter's firefighter, but most of all, for me, he was a friend, and he is missed dearly," said retired SBFD Chief Douglas J. Say. Retired Chief Ed Carboni also recalled Kenny Jeffery as a firefighter's firefighter and friend.

Carboni recognized Kenny Jeffery's efforts in two multiple-alarm fires as a shift captain: a fire in Building 87 in 1987, and one at the Mariner Hotel on Route 12 in 1989. He said the Building 87 fire happened one floor above a computer that controlled a lot of data but the computer was undamaged.

In the latter fire, Say was trapped in the basement, and after teams made three attempts to rescue him, Kenny Jeffery's rescue plan "is the reason I'm standing here today," Say said.

District Fire Chief Thomas A. Clapsadle Jr. also noted that Jeffery was a strong proponent of training, oversaw procurement of new apparatus and other grant projects, and paid out of his own pocket to keep the submarine base Little League team alive.

"He just was the charisma, the laugh, the seriousness, the skill sets that he brought with him and developed into the community," said retired SBFD Marshal Fire Marshal William Hennessey. He added, "He breathed and ate the fire service."

Hennessey was a 2019 inductee into the Navy Fire and Emergency Services Hall of Fame, and SBFD Chief Hank Vescovi was inducted in 2007.

Kenny Jeffery is the 45th inductee into the hall of fame, and his son and wife, Cathy Matuszak Jeffery, attended a ceremony last week at the Navy Museum in Washington, D.C., honoring him and the two other 2022 inductees, Stuart Cook and Joseph Thompson.

e.moser@theday.com