NORTH SMITHFIELD – In his decades-long career leading the town’s Emergency Management Agency, Peter Branconniere has served the people of North Smithfield through everything from week-long natural disasters, to routine traffic control issues.
Branconniere worked his last day as director of NSEMA on Saturday, Nov. 1, and this week, town officials recognized his long and successful career of more than 50 years. But whether that was 51 or 55 years, it seems, may remain a mystery.
“I’m not counting anymore,” Branconniere told NRI NOW. “After 50, I gave up.”
Whatever it was, the longtime director of emergency management will turn 81 in December, and he says it’s finally time to relax a bit.
“I turned in my keys and said goodbye to the office,” he said of his last day. “It was kind of sad.”
In a walk down memory lane this week, Branconniere noted that the important job serving the town was just one of his many careers. His first role was that of educator – teaching at Kendall Dean and Halliwell for two years before leaving to serve in Vietnam.
He returned to town in 1970 and took a full time job teaching at what was then Woonsocket Junior High. Current Town Councilor John Beauregard, he notes, was one of his many students during that other 40 year career.
Brancconiere served as a constable with the North Smithfield Police Department for a time, and worked with the North Smithfield Fire Department for 20 years, also serving as a ham radio operator.
“I’ve always been interested in public safety,” he said.
He was hired as the town’s director of EMA sometime around 1970 under Carl Sandberg, North Smithfield’s first town administrator.
In the decades since, most of Branconniere’s EMA work has been volunteer, although he began receiving a small annual stipend under former Town Administrator Paulette Hamilton around 2008. The federal government covers half of the nominal fee.
In the early years, North Smithfield’s emergency management agency operated from a bomb shelter built during World War II in the basement of 1 Main St, inside what is now know as Memorial Town Hall.
“That’s where we started, with three shelves,” he said. “That was EMA headquarters.”
The office was later moved to the former Bushee School – now the North Smithfield Police Department – which at that time was known as the Town Annex.
He’d been in the role less than eight years when a blizzard came through town that would trap hundreds of residents and close town roadways for at least a week.
“It was really a mess in town,” Branconniere said of the Blizzard of 1978. “A lot of the highway equipment broke. People were stuck everywhere.”
On a rented snow mobile, Branconniere delivered food, medicine and milk from Wright’s Dairy Farm to residents trapped in the area of Lake Bel Air. When he learned of some cows on Reservoir Road who were stuck outside of their barn shelter and starving, he got a National Guard helicopter to drop in hay.
He also helped with the Stamina Mill Fire and later, when there was an explosion at All State Gas in Slatersville. Multiple tanks on the property were shooting into the air he said, and the team had to act fast before the issue also affected a larger tank of hydrogen.
“It would have wiped out that industrial park,” he said.
From tragedies such as drownings in Slatersville Reservoir, to challenges including the town’s response to the Covid-19 pandemic, if there was a need in North Smithfield, Branconniere has been there.
“I’ve been part of a lot of different things,” he said. “When you do this, you don’t think about it until after it’s all happened.”
The director also launched the town’s Community Emergency Response Training program, where over the years he taught more than a thousand locals how to protect their homes and property, as well as the larger community, in times of disaster. The CERT course started in 2002 under the umbrella of EMA and now, more than 20 regular volunteers are on the town’s CERT Team, serving at events including the annual Pumpkin Festival, the Northmen 5K, Clean & Green Day, and the recent Spooky Spirits night.
“We’ve done a lot for free,” said Branconniere, adding that while most on the team are town residents, many actually live in surrounding towns. “They’re just volunteering their time.”
Branconniere said that NSEMA’s two deputy directors – Jay Levenson and Dan Taylor – will run the agency until a new director can be hired to take his place.
“They have to find someone who’s certified,” he said, noting that completion of an 11-course professional development series is required for federal funding. Branconniere has long held the certification, filing all of the needed paperwork and keeping up with changing requirements, including a recent day-long virtual class.
“It’s very complex, the job,” he said. “It’s not like you go in the office and wait for a disaster.”
On Monday, Nov. 3, those who came out to thank the director for his long and dedicated career included Levenson and Taylor, along with Police Chief Tim Lafferty, Fire Chief David Chartier and Rhode Island EMA Director Marc Pappas. Town Council president Kimberly Alves presented both a citation from the town and a plaque recognizing Branconniere’s “outstanding leadership.”
“During periods of extreme weather events, including hurricanes, snowstorms, floods, as well as [the] pandemic, your steadfast commitment to serving the needs of our residents has been exemplary,” read the citation. “We congratulate you on your retirement and wish you godspeed in your civilian stage in life.”
Representing her husband Rep. Brian Newberry, Beth Newberry gave Branconniere a citation, and Pappas presented a certificate of special recognition from Gov. Dan McKee for “50 years plus of distinguished service and leadership as the director of emergency management for the town of North Smithfield.”
“I join the residents of Rhode Island in expressing our admiration and deep gratitude for a job well done,” noted the certificate signed by McKee.
“We’re celebrating a great career,” said Pappas. “Peter Branconniere, in 50 years, has some unbeatable attributes that make him a stellar emergency management director. If you have passion for the job that’s an unbeatable attribute. He cares about the town and all the people that live here. He genuinely cares to keep people safe, and that commitment to public service is evident.”
Branconniere said that in the days to come, he plans to “putter around the garden and visit relatives.”
“It’s 81 years young. That’s what they keep telling me.”
He notes he’ll also have more time to tell his grandkids about “all the things that pépère’ took care of.”
“They like to hear stories of all the adventures I’ve had in my lifetime. It was quite a ride all these years,” Branconniere said.
“I appreciate all the town administrators who had enough faith in me to reappoint me,” he added. “I wanted to serve my community as best I could, and I did for all that time.”
