JAMES HOWELL, chief of the Lee County (FL) Port Authority Aircraft Rescue and Firefighting Department, has been appointed to the Florida Fire Chiefs’ Association’s Wildland Fire Committee. The committee develops educational materials and training programs for use throughout Florida. Howell joined the Port Authority in 1988 and manages all ARFF services at Southwest Florida International Airport and Page Field General Aviation Airport. He is responsible for developing fire prevention and suppression training programs for the 35-member department.
DAN CHIDESTER, chief of the Fullerton (CA) Fire Department, announced his retirement. His last day will be June 21. The 29-year department veteran was appointed chief in December 2000. He joined the department in 1973 and served as firefighter/paramedic, engineer, captain, battalion chief, operations chief, and training officer.
DAN CLARK, chief of the Kern County (CA) Fire Department, announced his retirement. He was appointed chief in 1995. From 1990 to 1995, he served as a deputy incident commander and then incident commander on a Type I, 30-member elite emergency management team that responded nationally to command the logistics of personnel, equipment, and support services on major wildland fires and other natural disasters. The department now has 27 personnel serving on the five Type I emergency management teams assigned to California. In 1994, Clark went to Sarajevo, Yugoslavia, as a firefighter with the United Nations Global Operations Fire Rescue to work with and train Sarajevo firefighters and perform a needs assessment of firefighting capabilities for the United Nations.
