NAMES IN THE NEWS
DEPARTMENTS
The Arkansas Fire Academy appointed Sheldon Richardson as the new director of the state fire training facility. Mr. Richardson has previously served as the assistant director and most recently as interim director. Mr. Richardson holds a master’s degree in education administration and a bachelor of science degree in business administration.
The Fairfax County, VA, Fire and Rescue Department promoted Gary A. Mesaris to deputy chief of operations, replacing Charles P. Dismuke, who retired. Also promoted was Edward P. Plaugher, who was named deputy chief for fire prevention, replacing Deputy Chief Freeland Young, who retired. Mesaris and Plaugher have been with the department 17 years.
Tom Brennan, the editor of FIRE ENGINEERING, was appointed an adjunct faculty member of the National Fire Academy, Field Programs Division. The appointment was made by Superintendent Joseph L. Donovan.
As an adjunct faculty member, Mr. Brennan will be involved in both the development and teaching of Firefighter Safety and Survival, which will be offered to fire departments nationwide beginning in April 1986.
Field courses are ultimately “handed off” to state fire training systems, metropolitan fire departments, as well as the military through the Academy’s train the trainer program. In this way, state and local training facilities, whose instructors have gone through the Academy’s course, can themselves present this informational material to interested firefighters in their areas.
Mr. Brennan’s background makes him well qualified to be an adjunct instructor with the National Fire Academy. A retired New York City Fire Department captain, Mr. Brennan was a career firefighter for 22 years and a volunteer firefighter with the West Sayville, NY, Volunteer Fire Department for 16 years. A summa cum laude graduate with a B.S. in fire science from John Jay College of Criminal Justice, Mr. Brennan is also a deputy chief instructor with the Suffolk County Fire Training School in Yaphank, NY, teaching classes in advanced firefighting.
Mr. Brennan, along with 76 other adjunct faculty designees, will be going to Emmitsburg, MD, in February for in-service training at the National Fire Academy.
We wish them all the best of luck.
M. Richard Vinocur Group Publisher
Gerard R. Dufresne, vice-president of United States Testing Company, has been appointed vice-president of a newly formed Materials Evaluation Division named Paper, Flexible Plastics, and Textile Flammability Services. His responsibilities include the supervision of textile flammability testing.
William D. Killen has been selected program administrator, Navy Fire Marshal Program, with the Naval Facilities Engineering Command, Alexandria, VA, succeeding James M. Manser, who retired.
Mr. Killen comes to the Navy from the Federal Aviation Administration, where he served as fire chief of the Metropolitan Washington Airports since February 1980. Mr. Killen’s fire service career spans 29 years with service in paid, municipal, industrial, and volunteer fire departments. Mr. Killen began his paid fire service career with the U.S. Naval Ordnance Station, Indian Head, MD, in 1960. In 1965, he was appointed to the Kennedy Space Center Fire Department, where he served as a member of the Astronaut Rescue Team during the Apollo and Skvlab programs.
