By: Daiyu Tang
WordPress calls this layout ‘Hero Half’ and I think it’s a great pair of words for the New Chief. Let me set you some context though… I had walked into the FDH HQ with one question: should we be worried
Dale Warrhol-Fabers… Yes, that Warrhol-Fabers, met me in the bay and waved me upstairs. In his office, he slid a municipal appointment letter across the desk along with his FDH and City ID cards. I photographed the letterhead and the department crest for the record because frankly, this was all a little shocking. He watched, as far as I could tell unblinking with my photo showing that perhaps sleep was not his best friend at the moment.
We got into it. I, of course wanted to know why he was behind the desk but perhaps more importantly, I wanted to know for this city what it meant. What dear reader, was going on and in a way, who was making it go on? Where was Chief Pentewyn?
“I’m the most qualified for the job, straight fact, no question,” he said, parking on the edge of his desk. “Chief Pentewyn had ta retiah ’cause’a health reasons. Can’t go inta the specifics on that.”
I asked why him, why now, and how, after everything, the job had circled back to his door.
“Mayah’s office reached out, reoffah’d me the position,” he replied. “This place’s everythin’ to me. Came in as a probie, worked my way up. Left a better-payin’ job just to come back here.”
Memories Forged in Flame
You our dear readers likely don’t need a full recap, but context does matter. In May 2024, we reported the FDH firing of Chief Warrhol-Fabers following the killing of an HPD officer. It was known as a night that detonated trust and left a crater a mile wide between the Hathian PD and the FDH. It was an unexpected in many ways rupture as just a season before the detonation, in March 2024, Warrhol-Fabers was on stage at a department date auction, raising money for a good cause and, briefly, reminding Hathian that firefighters are also neighbours who show up when sirens fade and the clean-up starts to get auctioned off for charity. A month later, in June 2024, we covered the new leadership under Chief Pentewyn installed at FDH, a reset many in the city welcomed.
So yes, this reappointment will land hard for some. Including the man hiding his face, who dropped this note into my mailbox at the Observer:
“FDH Chief Trevor is said to be retiring by FDH Staff, the replacement, said to be chosen by Mayor Boxer, is disgraced ex-Chief Dale Wharrol who killed Officer Charles Bolo by running him over with an ambulance. This is unacceptable, and I presume most of Hathian would agree, remembering initial reactions on Twitter/X.”
I mean I get it. I also flippantly think that if you can’t remember how to spell your adversaries name, they can’t have been that bad. Also… and just sounding it out here. If we don’t let the past fade, do we have a hope for the future? Remember I have often championed finding a way out of the Ouroboros and it would be churlish of me (and the City) to not offer that redemption arc to Dale. People do change. People don’t always get a fair shake. Sometimes they do bad but there is a chance for change. God knows I’ve tried with some to get them to be better for our city. Shouldn’t be be impressed that Dale has come back despite this… In spite of this?
When I put the hardest allegation on the table, ‘you murdered a cop’ he didn’t flinch.
“Ain’t nevah been convicted of murder, that’s the truth.”
That’s a lawyered sentence, and it’s also a fact. In Hathian, both can be true at once.
New Promises
Warrhol-Fabers is at his most convincing when he talks operations, not optics.
“We’ll put out every fire that comes, keep these rigs runnin’, keep savin’ anybody and everybody, with FDH stayin’ neutral. That’s guaranteed. No disruption in service. Abrupt as it was, the switch from Chief to Chief’s been smooth when it comes to savin’ lives.”
He rattled off a resumé of success… The HGH explosion, hurricanes, power-plant emergencies and more. If you strip the headlines and focus on outcomes, the track record under pressure is the real deal.
Editorial Thoughts
FDH neutrality isn’t a courtesy; it’s a covenant. We, as Hathian, we have to take Warrhol-Fabers at his word and measure it against response times, scene conduct and transparency. We’ll hear from his staff, good people like Spurs and Rog and Nate. We’ll know whether his operational excellence translates into the standards of courtesy we want from all public servants. Perhaps, dare we say it, HPD take note? A phoenix is after all born from fire and perhaps Dale is right now spreading his wings to protect (and not envelop) Hathian.
Warrhol-Fabers asked to be judged on fires fought and lives saved. Fair. Hathian’s memory is long, but our needs are immediate. When your apartment flashes over at 3am, you care less about last year’s headline than who’s sprinting up your stairs. You also might think the headline might have been wrong? Certainly the new Chief has given reasons to me technically and in the past more explicitly.
So I’ll give the new Chief what I give anyone in this town: a fair chance, my camera close and for now, a fair shake at being the best for the CIty. Oh… and a notebook ready for the days when the sirens end in applause or a new inquiry. Oh and yes, there’s a Hero Full layout too as well. I hope to use it soon.
