Honoring a Life of Leadership & Love with Retired Fire Chief Attilio K. Leonardi

Watch or Listen to the full episode

Interview Transcription

ADRIENNE: 
Welcome back, and thanks for listening to the team Lally real estate show, home of the guaranteed sold program, or we’ll buy it. I’m Adrienne and I’m Attilio, and if you have any questions, just give us a call at 7999596, or check us out online at Team lally.com

ATTILIO: 
Our guest today is a respected leader and public servant with over 35 years in the Honolulu Fire Department, including eight years as fire chief, rising through every rank, from firefighter to department opposition, he led with vision, integrity and deep commitment to public safety.

ADRIENNE: 
He was instrumental in major department milestones, including the development of critical facilities, modernization of operations, and helping HFD earn national accreditation. His legacy of innovation, perseverance and excellence continues to inspire many. Please welcome retired fire chief. Attilio K Leonardi,

ATTILIO: 
hey, Fire Chief, why is your name sound so familiar? Oh, wait, that’s right, you’re my dad.

ADRIENNE:
You copied it. We should say Welcome back, because you’ve been on the show. It’s been a little while since we last time.

ATTILIO:
Would this be the third time or second time you’ve been on the show? The third time? The third time? That’s right, he’s a repeat, repeat offender here, offender

RET. FIRE CHIEF LEONARDI:
of the team, Lally real estate show. So, dad, you know, we want to, we want to take people back to the beginning. Tell share with the listeners. You know, Leonardi is an ancient Hawaiian name. No, it’s not. It’s Italian. How? So let’s start with that one, dad. How did the leonardi’s end up in the state of Hawaii? Well, it was something to do with World War Two. Okay, my dad was, my dad was on the in he lives in Boston, and he was working in the Naval Shipyard as a welder, and they had a break. It was snowing, and it was, the weather was very cool, and they had a big meeting in one of the warehouses. And then back in the meeting, there was this big sign that with a palm tree and Waikiki Beach and says diamond in Hawaii, right? I mean, is. And then so he saw the sign, and a bunch of his friends said, Hey, let’s get out of this cold weather. And they came to Hawaii, and that’s how we ended up. My dad ended up here, and once in Hawaii, he married a local girl, and

ATTILIO: 
he never left. That was your grandma, and that was back. What year would you think that was about around, approximately,

RET. FIRE CHIEF LEONARDI:
oh, 1944 1944

RET. FIRE CHIEF LEONARDI:
4344 so right after nothing, near the end of the war. Yeah,

ATTILIO: 
awesome. And so that’s how we ended up here. And then you, you know, obviously, initially grew up, but Honolulu, but talk about the, you know, tell people what it is, what’s a Quonset hut?

RET. FIRE CHIEF LEONARDI:
We lived in a old area called Damon track, and Damon track is where the airport is today. Yeah, that was a huge subdivision. And my grandpa had a house over there, several houses, yeah, and we used to live in a Quonset hut. A Quonset hut is a like iron iron roof, yeah? Iron roof is the whole house that don’t make it like a dope, and all the way around it is the only thing wood is the floor, yeah? And so we lived in that for a while, until the whole area was developed and everybody there had to move out, yeah. So that’s, that’s,

RET. FIRE CHIEF LEONARDI:
I remember a lot about fishing in that area when I was a kid, but yeah, then, then after that, we end up, ended up, my dad had a business and and my brother and I, my mom, my mom passed away. My brother and I kept getting in trouble, and so my my dad sent us off to an uncle on Kauai, and we end up living on Kauai from the sixth grade until graduation. He had a big ranch, 200 acre ranch,

RET. FIRE CHIEF LEONARDI:
in kappa up in the back of the sleeping giant, because what a ranch was, yeah? So, yeah, it was a hard life, because he was a hard worker. We learned how to fix phone calls and castrations and all that good stuff that you do on a ranch.

ATTILIO:
Yeah, you live the actual cowboy life. And nowadays, most people, they may. Maybe they would see that in a documentary, but, or go to a dude ranch. But nobody has that experience, and it’s unique to have it in Hawaii, I know. Because usually that’d be like, if you’re back in the West, and little, uh, party, I think is the name, but this is back in the 20s. I saw an article, yeah, cowboy that won the national rodeo competition all the way from Hawaii back then. So yeah, and back then had a lot of all our all our ranches on all the islands were cowboys, and so that’s how every island and still today, they still have them. So cattle is a big business. Yeah.

ADRIENNE:
And Adrienne has a question. Oh, yes. So when you were, were there, you got a nickname, Johnny nine toes. How did, how did that come about?

RET. FIRE CHIEF LEONARDI:
Tell us the story. Why do you call Johnny nine toes when he was on Kauai, Johnny? Well, when I was about, oh, I guess about 14, 1314, years old, and we live in a rancher raise cows, so we belong to the 4h and the 4h club is where all of all the kids in the ranch is raised their own steer from a calf, not from a little bit from the time he’s weaned off the mother, yeah. And you raise them, and you you enter a contest after two years, and they pick the one that has been developed the most with the most weight gain.

RET. FIRE CHIEF LEONARDI:
So so as you train it, you also because he’s going to be a show animal, yeah, and you have to make sure that his feet are straight and that. So you have to train him. So I constantly after school, walk him and stop him and make sure his feet are straight and all that. And then I went forward, and he stepped on my foot, and I pulled it away, and my toe was gone.

ATTILIO: 
The natural reaction is to yank your foot away because it’s in painful. But how much the cow way?

RET. FIRE CHIEF LEONARDI:
2000 pounds? Wow. Cows toast moved, but the toes, yeah,

RET. FIRE CHIEF LEONARDI:
yeah. So the kids, the kids at school, used to tease me Johnny nine toes, the only guy who would hang nine or hang four,

ATTILIO: 
yeah. That’s how I got that nickname. Yeah, no, on the beach. You guys were like, Okay, I bet you. Who can, sir, who can do a ninth Hang Hang nine and use the only one you want the whole pot. Is it true that you you shouldn’t give the animal a name to become too, too, too close to the animal, like, don’t get give them a name, or did you give them a name?

RET. FIRE CHIEF LEONARDI:
No, we gave them names,

RET. FIRE CHIEF LEONARDI:
but you couldn’t get close to them because, yeah, end of the two years, and you went to this fair and you sold them the auction, yeah, the attachment was and then you raise another one the next

ATTILIO:
year. I think you and Uncle Jimmy, you got pretty smart, because I think the first call You named him hamburger

ATTILIO:
could be second one was Burger King. Next one was McDonald’s. But, yeah, you name them, but don’t become attached so you most people don’t realize. You know, in Hawaii, we always ask, okay, Dad, what high school did look you already said it, but what high school did you graduate from? Kapaa High School, Kapaa High School. And he was telling me, used to back before you left to go to unclear Kapaa ranch Bonanza, the Bonanza version on Kauai

RET. FIRE CHIEF LEONARDI:
that you guys, you went to school in town. What was the Catholic school that you went to in Waikiki? Yeah, St Augustine, attending Saint Augustine school. Yeah. And yeah,

ATTILIO: 
yeah. What’s that you still have, like a kind of reunion thing with the with those people?

RET. FIRE CHIEF LEONARDI:
Yes, we had a high school reunion,

RET. FIRE CHIEF LEONARDI:
elementary school, yeah, but I just had my 60th high school reunion. Nice. So that was pretty, pretty, pretty amazing. Yeah, everybody went to Vegas, of course. For Yes, yeah, that was fun, yes.

ATTILIO: 
And the the it was really, you just went to Vegas, and you said, Ah, let’s just call it a high school reunion. That’s local style.

ADRIENNE: 
But so, So what made you decide that you wanted to be a firefighter.

RET. FIRE CHIEF LEONARDI:
Well, I I was at waiki I was married, working at Waikiki Texaco in the 70s, going to school at work in Waikiki, Texas at night, going to school during the day. Yeah, attended the. BYU, Hawaii, and

RET. FIRE CHIEF LEONARDI:
so one night working, five or six of my army buddies, because I was in army prior to that, came over and talk story at night at the gas station, yeah, and they say, Hey, we just got hired by the fire department. There’s three of them. And they says, there’s a test coming up. Why don’t you take it? I said, Well, I’m going to graduate from college next year, in the next four months, so I’m not interested in being a fireman. My degree was going to be it’s in business management. So they said, well, well, you’re not a fireman. You got to take the test first. Yeah. So I said, Now think about it. And I looked at it. I said, Well, that’s an option for me. So yeah. I said, as a backup, I’ll take the test anyway. So I took a test. I passed, passed it high, and I thought so. Then I graduated from college, and two weeks later, I get called from the bank an offer to be like a bank management training, yeah, management trainee, yep. And he would pay $400 a month, wow. And three days later, I get a call. I get a call from the fire department offered me a firefighter position, and the pay was $648 Oh, wow. And I was married, and I said, Well, I have to go with the bucks in a firehouse. So me, Michelle, we was a reason, because you had to feed me. And Michelle, when we were little, might that’s my sister’s one year and younger. The we skipped over real quick. But I we always want to thank you for your service as a veteran. And I know it’s not happy memories, but just real quick, you, you got drafted. Right to go to,

RET. FIRE CHIEF LEONARDI:
no, I didn’t get drafted. Oh, you signed up. Was No, no, I didn’t. Well, yeah, we joined the Army Reserves. Okay, got you because you guys all the time, we’re all in college. We’re all in college, yeah. And the guy came to the college says, Hey, you don’t want to get drafted. You gotta you should join the Army Reserve or the National Guard, yeah? So my brother and a bunch of us that were all at college, yeah, we all joined the Army Reserve. And the guy said, don’t worry, you join Army Reserve. They’re never gonna get activated. 52 we’re gonna stay right here at home. Yes, we said, okay, so we joined army reserves. And lo and behold, a year later, we all got two years later, we all got activated Vietnam. We end up. We end up, well, I ended up there, yeah. And once of all look, because we’re all local battalion, yeah. So, yeah. So we ended up there being piecemeal to to Vietnam. In other words, if they needed 50 people, they took 50 different people and sent them over there from our unit. Yeah, it wasn’t the whole unit. The whole unit didn’t go, gotcha. So it was an experience. Well, we’re thankful that you made it out of that experience, and you’re here today to be on this show. And

ATTILIO: 
in fact, I think was it, Was I being born while you in basic camp? Or what was because I have to be what? Yes,

RET. FIRE CHIEF LEONARDI:
when I was in basic, basic camp on Fort, already in Fort, Ord, California, yeah,

RET. FIRE CHIEF LEONARDI:
we had a battalion ceremony, and they called me out in front and says, Oh, you just became a dad. Oh,

ATTILIO: 
right, yeah. Cuz, back then you wasn’t gonna get no text message or, you know, none of those stuff, yeah, yeah. You had to go to the telephone. Yeah, the message was sent to the unit and stuff like that. So a lot of times they would know before you did back in the Yeah. So fast forward to the fire department, because that was going to be the next 35 years of your life. And it’s interesting, because what was your mindset, dad? Because obviously it was a plan B situation, and then plan B turned into you being your whole career, the fire chief, in the end of it, the top position. Tell us, as you know, as you progress through the fire department, what was that like?

RET. FIRE CHIEF LEONARDI:
It was a journey, you know, yeah, one

RET. FIRE CHIEF LEONARDI:
thing about the fire department, yeah, it’s an exciting career. It’s very challenging every fire is different. Everything you do is different. Every day, nothing, no two. Fire is the same, yeah? So, because every situation changes rapidly, yeah, so you really got to be on it, and it’s, it’s a very adrenaline high, yeah, type of progression profession, and I really enjoyed it, yeah, love the work, working with with the fire price, all professionals, we do a lot of training, you know, and you all look at each other and take care of each other. So that’s what I liked about it. And it was all family oriented in the fire. House in so then, then as he time passes, you say, Do I want to stay at the lower rank, or do I want to start moving up the rank? Then you got to stop studying. So I was, we can got promoted over and over and over, just by keep studying and keeping track of what’s happening, going to classes, making use of my time in a fire department. Yeah, one thing about being in a fire department, you do your training, and after that, you can coast a lot. And the coasting part is you have time off to exercise and do things, or you like to study, you can study. So we used to have study groups, and then that’s how groups of law schools study to take the exam, because it’s real competitive. Exams are very competitive, yeah? And if you don’t study, you’re gonna get bypassed. So I studied a lot, a lot, yeah, to move up the chain, and that’s, that’s how I rush, but you just got to keep at it. Well, you can either get really good at volleyball, or you can go study to move up the ring, or you can do, you can do both study, break volleyball.

ATTILIO: 
That is it true that if you cannot, if you’re not a really good cook, that you’re gonna get beat with a rubber holes in the fire department.

RET. FIRE CHIEF LEONARDI:
Well, we had people that weren’t a good cook, but they never cooked again, yeah?

RET. FIRE CHIEF LEONARDI:
Because, well, we used to rotate, and, you know, we knew who the guys would lousy cook, or just didn’t make the good food. So they usually end up, somebody steps

ATTILIO: 
up and help them out, unless you guys diet, then you would ask Jerry, that bad cook to make the food, because you guys was all in one diet. Well,

RET. FIRE CHIEF LEONARDI:
not only on diet, cook the right type of food. Yeah, you know,

RET. FIRE CHIEF LEONARDI:
you can’t be bending over with a big belly, firefighter be

ATTILIO: 
agile. Gotta be healthy and all of that good stuff. And, yeah, yeah, I know that’s a big, big part of the culture of the fire department,

ADRIENNE:
you know. And you’re still fit. I saw you put your your jacket on. Everything still fits you,

ATTILIO:
yeah. How old is that? Yeah, the formal uniform that you have, how tell them the story about that uniform that you told me when I came over that one day?

RET. FIRE CHIEF LEONARDI:
Oh, the dress uniform. Yeah, when I joined the department in 1971 it was required to have a dress uniform. Yeah, all the firefighters had addressing universe, yeah, you work in uniform and for ceremony and things, you had a dress uniform, yeah? And that’s like a suit, and all your badges and all that goes on that suit, yeah? And so join a fire department, you had to get it, and you have to be hanging in your closet within a month or so after you get joined the department, yeah? So you couldn’t fool around, because they wanted everybody to dress up in the dress uniforms for the certain events. So at that time, you know, we’re paid $648 a month, and dress uniform cost couple 100 bucks. That’s not a lot of money, yeah, for us, you know, because you married and you paid budget, yeah, and but you had to get it. So I had to go get it, and it was hanging on my closet when the guy came in inspection. Inspector came in and in, and I still have that suit today. But the funny part is, two years after I joined the department, they did away with addressing firefighters only the top, top brass needed a dress uniform. Yeah? So I ended up, it ended up in my closet for a while, and then it’s then it started to come back, I guess in the 980s or 90s. Yeah, what a dress uniform is no so I use it for as the fire chief. You know, I go to the mainland and attend many functions and ceremonies. So we’re all dressed in this is just dress uniform, sure. So, so now the department has all of the ranking officers and the captains have dress uniform, yeah, and you’re working the way to get the rest of the department. But when we were coming up the ranks, it just wasn’t the Chiefs weren’t feasible to, you know, and it was hard for the firefighters to purchase their own expensive Yeah, yeah, so, but that’s that’s but it still fits me today, and I still use it at certain ceremonies, and the same one. And the bad part about it is made of wool. At that time, he was custom made for each person by Susan Roebuck, and so it’s still in top shape.

ATTILIO:
Well, when you go on to glory, we’ll make sure it goes to the Attilio K museum down there at the Central Bureau. And I did the fire department told me that they’re going to make a wax figure of you who. You leave

RET. FIRE CHIEF LEONARDI:
it in the sun. Yes,

ADRIENNE:
we only have a few minutes,

ATTILIO:
and so we want you to mention the fundraiser that’s coming up that you wanted.

RET. FIRE CHIEF LEONARDI:
Oh yeah, I sit on, I sit on the Honolulu Firefighters Foundation for about 15 years as a board member, and we do a big annual

RET. FIRE CHIEF LEONARDI:
fundraising event. And the Firefighter Foundation, we assist the fire department and their families when firefighters get injured or illness or they have hardships, we popped in with some money, and we also give money to certain fire safety programs, like the smoke detector alarm program and other things like that, to the fire department. And we also sponsor part of an annual donation to the Straub Burn Unit, because burn units and us are synonymous about so we that’s what. So that’s what our organization does. The event is on October 11. Yeah, and so we are starting to get ready now and be coming out with the flyers in about about two or three weeks. So it’s a busy time for us right this time,

ATTILIO: 
we’ll have, you know, what we’ll do is we’ll post the link on our website, team lally.com and we’ll have the link there where people can RSVP and get all the information. If you are just tuning in now you’re listening to me, Atelier, okay, Leonardi talking with special Father’s Day show. Father’s Day show talking with a Leonardi, former fire chief of the Honolulu Fire Department, been there 35 years and has been my mentor and somebody I’m proud to call Dad for the last 58 years. And dad, any last thing you want to share with our listeners before we end the show?

RET. FIRE CHIEF LEONARDI:
Yes, I’m very proud of my son. Attilio, oh, thank you. And Happy Father’s Day, kiddo. Oh,

ATTILIO: 
thank you so much, dad, and Happy Father’s Day to you.

RET. FIRE CHIEF LEONARDI:
I love you so much. We’ll see you at the swap meet. Okay, okay, daddy, alrighty. I love you. Bye. Adrienne,

ATTILIO:
alrighty. So I always like having my dad on the show, and I hope that we’ll have him on here, many, many, many more times, and

ADRIENNE:
then we’ll have him on the show again to maybe talk a little bit fundraiser coming up in October.

Follow Us On Social Media