NAMES IN THE NEWS
DEPARTMENTS
Wesley B. Kilcrease has been named fire chief of the Ventura County Fire Protection District, Camarillo, CA, replacing Stanley E. Masson who retired after 28 years in the department.
Chief Kilcrease served with the San Diego City Fire Department for 25 years and worked his way up through the ranks. He has attended the California State University at San Diego, San Diego Community College, and the National Fire Academy.
Chief Kilcrease has been active in the Fire Marshal’s Association of North America, Southern California Fire Prevention Officer’s Association, San Diego Society of Fire Protection Engineers, National Fire Protection Association, International Conference of Building Officials, San Diego County Fire Chiefs Association, Pioneer Hook and Ladder Association, Tri-Counties Fire Chiefs Association, and Southern California Foresters and Fire Wardens Association.
William M. Neville, Jr., was named superintendent of the National Fire Academy located at FEMA’s National Emergency Training Center in Emmitsburg, MD. Mr. Neville will oversee the Academy’s resident and field programs.
Mr. Neville has been chief of the Hayward, CA, Fire Department since 1980, and served more than 23 years with the Los Angeles City Fire Department. He started establishing close ties with federal fire programs in 1974, helping to coordinate the development of Fire Protection Master Planning for the U.S. Fire Administration and the Academy, and testing it in 10 communities nationwide. He also served as a consultant for the U.S. Fire Administration on a number of occasions.
Mr. Neville taught fire protection management at the Los Angeles City College and served as a curriculum advisor there and at California State University at Los Angeles, where he was part of a team that developed a four-year curriculum for use by the fire service.
In the early 1970s, Mr. Neville worked on the FIRESCOPE task force as part of a multiagency coordinating team that developed the incident command system. In 1984, he was awarded a FEMA scholarship to Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government’s Senior Executive Program.
Mr. Neville graduated in 1961 from Harbor College with an associate degree in fire science and obtained his bachelors degree from California State University in 1969.
