Tonight we are posting the start of a page on the history of California State Fire Training. This is our 34th blog posting since starting the web site this past March. It’s come a long way, with lots of content to add as time allows. 2016 will feature many more fire service biographies, and expansion of current content including major fires, department histories, etc.
Our last posting for 2015 includes the start of a page on the history of California State Fire Training, with a video featuring Chief Ronny J. Coleman on Thomas Ward, one of the founders. This video introduces Chief Ward, and was shot at the Red Bluff CA FD Fire Museum a few years ago, with help from my nephew Chris Martin, a career FF/Engineer with Red Bluff FD. See it here: http://www.marinfirehistory.org/california-state-fire-training.html Also featured this week is a 13 year-old video of Chief Ronny J. Coleman explaining the background of the National Fire Heritage Center in Emmittsburg, Maryland. See it here: http://www.marinfirehistory.org/national-fire-heritage-center.html Happy new year to all, and to all a good night, Tom I grew up in Corte Madera, on the side of a hill and a street where the trains still passed. From the train tracks across the street and our front porch we could see across the bay to San Quentin State Prison, a huge complex painted in a shade of yellow. As children we of course did not know much about the place, even though Grandpa Nelson was the local Police and Fire Chief. He did not talk about it at all.
My ‘eyes were opened’ when I was a teenager - my father and Corte Madera VFD Fire Captain Jack Forster took me on a tour of the prison that was offered to his Rotary Club. My strongest memory is when the tour group approached one end of a giant multi-story cellblock. We were told that once through the entry door we would need to move very quickly to get to another exit door to continue the tour. They said the prisoners would yell at us once they saw a tour group. Words cannot describe the primal screams that came next, echoing through the open courtyard that went up several stories. The prisoners stood against their cell doors, shaking the bars in a thundering roar. It was stunning, and our group ran through to the other side, exiting safely. This week we are posting the start of the stories on San Quentin that include the formation of a fire department for the prison, several major fires, and the very sad discovery of what is now the earliest known line-of-duty death of someone (name tbd) fighting a fire in Marin County in 1910. Read the stories in several places – under Current Fire Departments, San Quentin; under Line of Duty Deaths, 1910; under Major Fires, structural, 1876, 1910, and 1951. It's been over 86 years since the formation of the Marin County Association of Fire Departments over the course of 1928-1929. The group was formed "... for mutual aid and assistance to the various departments, to bring them into a closer relationship, with a central body, where matters could be discussed and acted on for the benefit of all…"
Initially, the support for such a cooperative undertaking was not widespread. 1929 was a year of great change in our country - the start of the Great Depression. It was also the year of the Great Mill Valley Fire, an incident which underscored the need for such a group. By 1930, the group had received a commendation from the Marin County Board of Supervisors for their efforts and purpose. The Association lasted until 1963, when it was dissolved and the Marin County Fire Chiefs Association (MCFCA) was formed as it's successor. I'm sure the founders would be proud to know that MCFCA continues to act on the original intent from the late 1920's, that of planning for and carrying out regional cooperative efforts to benefit all. Read about these groups under the current and former associations pages on this site. |
AuthorOur Blog announces new site content, and gives the context of the topic and it's relationship to fire service history. Written by Bill Lellis & Paul Smith Archives
August 2022
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