Names in the News
Frank Sweeney Retires
Francis J. Sweeney, chief of the New Haven, Conn., Fire Department for the last 13 years, retired on August 30.
Sweeney joined the department in August 1944. He was named lieutenant in 1949, captain in 1954, drillmaster in 1957, administrative assistant to the chief in 1960 and assistant chief in 1962. He became chief in 1965.
As chief, he was credited with a number of innovations in the department, including the C-MED program which has saved many lives in its short existence; the formation of an arson squad including representatives of both the fire and police departments, and the lowering of the work week from 84 to 42 hours.
During his tenure, two new fire stations were built and a third is under construction. In addition, plans have been completed for a $2 million training center.
Sweeney has served as president of the Connecticut Fire Department Instructors Association and is currently a member of the executive committee. He was chairman of the National Fire Protection Association’s committee on training; is a member of the Connecticut Fire Chiefs Association, the New England Association of Fire Chiefs, the New Haven Chiefs’ Emergency Plan and the International Association of Fire Chiefs.
He was co-chairman of the IAFC’s education and training commitee and is secretary of the Metropolitan Committee of the IAFC and its representative on the Joint Council of National Fire Service Organizations.
He was recently given the Medal of Honor by Mayor Frank Logue for his service to the City of New Haven.
New Anchorage Chief
John F. Franklin was named chief of the Municipality of Anchorage Fire Department. He had been deputy chief since 1973.
Franklin replaces Chief Eugene Bennett, who retired after 27 years in the department. Bennett, who had served at various chief officer ranks since 1969, was active in the Alaska Fire Chiefs Association and the Metropolitan Chiefs section of the International Association of Fire Chiefs.
Franklin, a native of New York, has been a member of the Anchorage Fire Department for 19 years, beginning as a volunteer in 1959. He graduated magna cum laude from the Anchorage Community College with a degree in fire science in 1974 (the first graduate of that program). He received his bachelor’s degree a year later, also magna cum laude. He is presently doing post-graduate work in public administration.
Chief Carl Heynen Retires
Carl O. Heynen, Jr., retired on August 1 after completing 30 years with the Alto Volunteer Fire Department in Mill Valley, Calif. He joined t he volunteer fire de partment in 1948 and was elected chief in 1949. He started working full time in 1951 and started the Alto Richardson Bay Fire Protection District in 1954. He was succeeded by Terry Kildow.
Heynen organized the building of most of the equipment and was instrumental in converting a grocery store into Station 1. He also persuaded a local seminary to build Station 2 and pay for fire protection. He installed a box alarm system which was responsible for bringing down the insurance rating from a class 10 to class 4. No residence in the distruct has suffered a total loss in 30 years.
Heynen was assistant coordinator for Marin County. He was a ember of the Alto Volunteer Firemen Inc., the Marin County Fire Chiefs Association, the California Fire Chiefs Association, the International Association of Fire Chiefs, the California Rural Firemen’s Association and the California State Fire Firemen’s Association. He was a charter member of the Fire Service Section of the National Fire Protection Association.
Hoyt Ayers Retires
Hoyt Ayers, chief of the Bluff Park Fire District, Birmingham, Ala., ends 52 years of fire service on September 30. He has served as chief of Bluff Park since 1959, when he retired from the Birmingham Fire Department.
His first full-time fire fighting job began in 1925 when he was hired as a private in the Birmingham Fire Department. Working his way up through the ranks, he successfully was promoted to lieutenant, captain, district chief, deputy chief and in 1948, chief of the department.
After his retirement from the City of Birmingham, Ayers was employed by the Fire Board of Trustees of the Bluff Park Fire District to upgrade that department. His job of upgrading had a long way to go since the rolling stock consisted of one 1927 pumper and a 1938 model tank truck. The trucks were kept in the backyards of volunteers on a rotating basis. The fire station was a desk and cot in the rear of a barber shop in a shopping center.
Today, the Bluff Park Fire District has a highly trained medical rescue organization with paramedics of the highest caliber and a hard-working group of full-time and volunteer fire fighters.
Ayers is a past president of the Alabama Association of Fire Chiefs and a long-standing member of the International Association of Fire Chiefs.
Chief Gertken Retires
John H. Gert ken, chief of the Community Fire Protection District in St. Louis County, Mo., retired on October 4, after 27 years in the department, 21 as chief.
Gertken joined the newly formed fire protection district in 1951 as its second paid fire fighter. He became a captain shortly thereafter and in 1957 was named chief.
In 1963, he was president of the Missouri Mules, an organization of fire fighters, and in the same year was named state vice president of the Missouri Valley Division of the International Aassociation of Fire Chiefs. He held this post for 10 years before becoming president of the division in 1973. He also was president of the St. Louis County Fire Chiefs 1 Association.
Atlanta Fire Marshal Retires
J. B. Gossett, Atlanta, Ga., fire marshal, retired on June 28 after 31 years with the Atlanta Bureau of Fire Services.
He was appointed to the department in 1947, became a lieutenant assigned to fire investigation in 1952, and rose to assistant fire marshal with the rank of captain in 1969. He was named fire marshal in 1973.
Gossett is a member of the Fire Marshals Association of North America, the Georgia State Firemen’s Association and the International Association of Fire Chiefs.
Chief Charles Brown Retires
Charles E. Brown, a 38-year veteran of the fire service, 20 of which he was chief, resigned as chief of the Sierra Madre, Calif., Volunteer Fire Department on July 30.
Brown joined the volunteer department in 1940, which at that time boasted a 1920 LaFrance pumper, a Pierce Arrow touring car that had been converted with a chemical tank, ladders and hose into a fire fighting unit, plus a handful of volunteers.
During the ensuing years Brown moved up through the ranks serving as engineer, treasurer, secretary, and in 1948 was appointed captain. He continued as a captain until 1956 when he was named assistant chief. Upon the death of the then chief, James Heasley, he was elected chief in June 1958.
Progress during his tenure has been significant. A second station was added in the canyon area of the town. The original station that was built in 1927 was replaced with a modern four-bay facility which houses three Crown triple compbinations, plus a department-built salvage truck. The department initiated an emergency medical program that provides coverage for the city with a van-type unit, purchased by donations solicited by a local service organization.
Arnold Schildknecht Retires
Arnold Schildknecht, secretary of Fire End & Croker Corporation, retired recently after 50 years in the fire protection field.
Schildknecht at 16 years of age joined A.B.C. Fire Prevention in 1928. Approximately four years later the firm merged with Croker National and became Croker Fire Prevention Corporation. Schildknecht was office manager and then vice president. He left that firm to join Fire End Products. Four years later, Fire End purchased Croker Fire Prevention, forming Fire End & Croker Corporation.
Chief James Landers Retires
James A. Landers retired as chief of the College Park, Ga., Fire Department on July 1 after 30 years with the department. Appointed in June 1948, he became a lieutenant in 1957, captain in 1958, assistant chief in 1972 and chief in 1973.
Landers guided the College Park Fire Department through its demanding period due to the rapid development of multiple-family dwellings and the expansion of Atlanta’s Airport into its district.
Chief W. Whitaker Retires
Willard Whitaker, chief of the University of Alaska-Fairbanks Fire Department for the last 11 years, retired on August 31. He had been in the fire service for over 30 years.
Prior to his assignment in the university fire department, he was with the Fairbanks International Airport Fire/Security Department and the Fort Wainwright Fire Department.
Whitaker’s long association with the fire service started in the mountains of Pennsylvania when he graduated from high school, only interrupted by service in the Marine Corps during World War II.
He has been succeeded by Assistant Chief William Schechter. Schechter has been with the university’s fire department for over eight years. He started as a volunteer in a fire department in Pennsylvania, and then was a paid engineer. He was with the Fairbanks Fire Department for 2 1/2 years before becoming the first assistant fire chief in the university fire department.
Chief Hoyt Paden Retires
Hoyt B. Paden hung up his white helmet on September 30 after 30 years and two months with the Decatur, Ga., Fire Department.
Paden was appointed assistant chief in 1961 and assigned as fire marshal. He became chief in 1973. He served as vice president of the Georgia State Fire Chiefs Association for four years and is a life member of the Georgia State Firemen’s Association. He was recently the winner of the Decatur Kiwanis Club’s Community Service Award.
W. T. Jones Retires
W. Tillman Jones, a captain in the Richardson, Texas, Fire Department, retired on June 30 after 46 years service.
Jones started as a volunteer fire fighter in February 1932 and was hired on October 1, 1957 as one of the first four paid fire fighters for the city under the city council/city manager form of government. The Richardson Volunteer Fire Department was organized by a group of public-spirited citizens in 1926, but was reorganized and chartered in 1932.
Jones made the first ambulance run for the city in a 1946 Ford ambulance which was purchased in 1950 from a funeral home in McKinney. The city was one of the first communities in t he State of Texas to provide ambulance service for its 1289 citizens. The city now has a population of 78,000.
Jones was also instrumental in organizing the North Texas Fireman’s and Fire Marshal’s Association.
In his honor, June 30 was proclaimed “Captain W. Tillman Jones Day.”
Naval Fire Chief Retires
Alan W. Butler, chief of the fire department at the Naval Education and Training Center in Newport, R. I., retired on June 30 after 32 years of federal service.
Butler began civil service in 1946 as a fire fighter at the Davisville Seabee Base. He transferred to Newport several months later and rose through the ranks to fire captain and assistant chief. He was also a member of the Pautuxet Volunteer Fire Department for eight years.
In 1958 he was cited for the rescue of a ship’s pilot from the blazing tanker Gulfoil. Stripping to his underwear and socks, he waded and swam some 75 feet to the burning ship and climbed up the smouldering anchor chain to effect the rescue. For his heroic deed he was awarded the Army and Navy Legion of Valor Medal, the Andrew Carnegie Medal and the Navy Meritorious Civilian Service Award.
Succeeding Butler is Assistant Chief Milton J. Rebello. Rebello has nine years of federal service.
—Navy photo by Boteiho.
