Indianapolis, IN – Deputy Chief (ret.) John Eversole of the Chicago (IL) Fire Department (CFD) received the Fire Engineering 2004 Lifetime Achievement Award at FDIC’s Thursday General Session. William Manning, associate publisher and editor in chief of Fire Engineering and FDIC conference director, and Greg Noll, one of the original hazardous materials officers in Prince George’s County, Maryland, made the presentation.
Manning lauded Eversole for his “extraordinary career of leadership, vision, and action that has profoundly influenced the fire service in North America.”
“When I met John in 1982, I quickly learned how special this man is, both as an individual and as an advocate for the fire service,” Noll recalled.
Both recounted the numerous achievements and honors of Eversole’s decades of involvement in the hazardous materials arena that earned him a place among “the elite few in the history of the fire service” and the reputation as a staunch, unwavering advocate for “the firefighters on the street.”
Eversole was a member of the CFD from 1969 through 2001, when he retired. He served with great distinction in various capacities, including hazardous materials coordinator (the first in the department). Under his leadership, the department’s haz-mat program was transformed from a unit with one assigned position and a meagerly equipped converted bread truck into a fully staffed and equipped, nationally recognized program with a budget of $1.5 million. At the time Eversole retired from active duty in the CFD, he was chief of special functions and managed the department’s haz mat, technical rescue, specialty apparatus, air-sea rescue, and fire investigation divisions.
Eversole was instrumental in establishing the training curricula for the Illinois HazMat/Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) Response Task Force and served as an original member of the technical committee for NFPA 472, Standard for Hazardous Materials Professional Competency (he became chairman of the NFPA 472 Technical Committee after the untimely death of Warren Isman in 1991); the co-chair of the IFSTA Haz Mat Committee and a member of several other IFSTA committees; a participant in the 1987 America Burning Recommissioned Panel; a member of the U.S. Fire Administration’s Firefighter Safety Panel established in the wake of the Kansas City Propane Explosion of 1988; and as a member of the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Author’s Group, established to write the language for the Hazardous Materials Transportation Uniform Safety Act.
He is chairman of the International Association of Fire Chiefs Haz Mat Committee; during his tenure, he brought the long-running successful Haz Mat Response Conference under IAFC sponsorship.
He testified at several congressional committee hearings, offering views such as the following:
- “If we are to do a better job of protecting our emergency responders, the public, and our whole country, we must strike a conscious and intelligent balance between security and safety …. Our country seems to operate on the ‘pendulum theory’ …. If it’s a potentially big problem, do nothing. If it becomes a big problem, go crazy …. Because of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, some people have dreamed up every conceivable scenario of the disaster. It is now imperative that we bring the pendulum back to the center where people can be safe, secure, and happy.”
- “Please remember: When it happens, the bell will ring in the local firehouse. Firefighters will get on their apparatus, the doors will open, and we will answer the call to destiny. How good we are will determine what is left of our community.”
Eversole refused to yield on the continued federal “security” effort to eliminate the Department of Transportation (DOT) haz-mat placarding system. He has been instrumental in maintaining funding for the DOT’s Emergency Response Guidebook. As a member of the Interagency Board of the U.S. Army’s Soldier and Biological Chemical Command (SBCCOM), Eversole has helped to ensure that training programs and materials developed by the federal government can be used by first responders in the street.
His numerous awards include the Illinois Society of Fire Service Instructors’ “Instructor of the Year” Award (1982); the Chemical Manufacturers Association “Industry Safety Achievement Award” (2000); the Congressional Fire Services Institute’s “Mason Lankford Fire Service Leadership Award” (2001); a U.S. Department of Transportation Research and Special Programs Administration “Special Recognition Award” (2001); the IAFC “Hazardous Materials Response Teams Conference Level A+ Award” (2001); and the Dangerous Goods Advisory Council “George L. Wilson Award,” (2002). On September 25, 2001, Governor George H. Ryan proclaimed “Chief John Eversole Day” in the state of Illinois.
