This is our first post of new content in a little over a month. We've been busy with research and writing, and will be adding more content in the next few days, including a very special Part II of a biography.
Today we want to share the news of some recent awards received by our honorary member Chief Ronny J. Coleman. Most recently, this included a prestigious award from the International Fire Service Training Association (IFSTA) - the Everett E. Hudiburg Memorial Award for Outstanding Achievement in Fire Service Training. Ronny traveled to Stillwater, Oklahoma to receive the award on July 16. "It was like a high school class reunion," said Ronny, "I ran into guys I had not seen in over 25 years..." Read all about it on Ronny's biography at More>Special Recognition and Award Recipients>Coleman, Ronny J. State Fire Marshal Retired page. Scroll down to read about the award, and some others. A long time ago in America, early firefighting efforts included the use of bucket brigades. The art of transferring water from a source to the fire with long lines of people using buckets. The first ones were made of leather, and later out of metal. We're sure that when the fire was out, at some point someone tossed a bucket of cold water on another, and a water fight was on. Fast forward to the use of fire hose and pumpers, and the tradition continued - firefighters are often very competitive, and both bucket brigades and water fights with hose streams became a regular part of fire musters in the 20th century.
We will be telling the stories of various sporting competitions held within the Marin County fire service, including hose cart races, water fights, musters, tug-of-wars, softball leagues, and more. This week we are starting the feature page on water fights. Research has so far uncovered water fights starting in the late 1940's, and continuing into the 1980's. We may learn of more. FD's participating in organized competitions included Novato, San Rafael, Corte Madera, Larkspur, Mill Valley, Tiburon, Kentfield, Alto-Richardson Bay, Sausalito, and more. We'll first feature the ones held in Larkspur, since we have some great early film footage and some good photos of the early days. Click here to go to this feature page: With thanks to researcher and author William "Bill" Lellis, this week we are sharing the story of San Quentin Fire Chief Norman Selby. Also known as Charles "Kid" McCoy, he was a World Champion Boxer who first fought competitively in 1891. Weighing in at barely 160 pounds as a young boxer, he won the middle heavyweight and then the heavyweight crown. From Champion to murderer to inmate to Fire Chief, the Kid lived a fascinating life.
According to a brief biography written by famous sports columnist Ring Lardner from back then, "Kid McCoy lived by violence, by trickery, and by women. He fought 200 fights, and was beaten in only six of them. He married eight women—one of them three times—and shot another to death. For the murder, he paid a light price, lightly. There was vanity in him, and guile, and wit, and cruelty, and some larceny, and a great capacity for enjoying himself. Above all, there was self-satisfaction..." Read the story in our Special Recognition and Award Recipients under the More Menu, or click below. Thanks to Greg Jennings for sharing more photographs from the training burns with Kentfield and Marin County FD personnel. They are posted under Departments>Former>Angel Island FD.
Thanks also to John Lando, Ken Massucco, and Grant Welling for supplying many of the missing names from the group photo posted on May 18. Grant has also shared some memories which speak for themselves. I thought twice about posting the story of the sandwich. Today that prank would probably be called 'harassment' by some, but, hey, this was in the 1970's and it happened. Still missing some names in the group shot if you can help. "Burning Down the House" is a song originally performed by the group "Talking Heads" in 1983. This week we are sharing some classic photos from roughly 35-40 years ago at a controlled structural burn at Angel Island. They were taken by photographer, historian, and retired Marin County FD Senior Captain Greg Jennings during a period of time when Greg says about 40% of the old buildings on the island were burned for removal.
Controlled structural burns for training were very common in the fire service back then. Today, environmental regulations such as air quality management, and safety regulations such as prohibiting exposure to asbestos have greatly reduced these events. In Marin, major burns in the 1970's included former military bases that were being closed down, such as Hamilton Air Force Base, and Fort Cronkite. In the case of Angel Island, it had become a California State Park in several phases that began in the 1950's. This particular burn day was with the Marin County FD and the Kentfield Fire Protection District. We need help in identifying all of the people in the group photo, and in determining the year. Mail Tom at tnforster@mac.com if you can help. Thanks to Greg for sharing these great photos! Click here to go to the Angel Island page to see the burn photos: This week we are sharing an amazing list of known historical fire apparatus in Marin County, with permission. It was researched and compiled by Chris Cavette of Fremont, California. Chris is a long-time volunteer currently serving as the Newsletter Editor of the California Chapter of the Society for the Preservation & Appreciation of Antique Motor Fire Apparatus in America, also known as SPAAMFAA. This incredible work for Marin County is only a small part of his contribution to fire history - he is doing this for the entire Western States, county by county! Help Chris complete this list - you'll note that there are some unknowns for many departments, and some FD's are missing. Chris now has our master list of known FD's. Thanks Chris!
As of the last blog we did not have a name of the convict who was killed while fighting the huge Jute Mill fire at San Quentin in 1909. Thankfully, through further research by retired Larkspur Chief Bill Lellis, we have his name. See the first entry in the Line of Duty Deaths menu, and also visit the More>Major Fires, Incidents >Structure Fires>1909 Jute Mill Fire page for that fire story. Thanks Bill!
This kind of research would not have been possible just a few years ago, but with the wonders of the internet and the ever-increasing volume of old newspapers that have been digitized - success! We still hope to get much more information about this through the historical collection at San Quentin, but getting permission to access those records has proved difficult. We do have a letter in to the 'powers that be' in State Corrections. Stay Tuned.... Also this week, we are pleased to publish Chief Ronny J. Coleman's Thesis completed for his Master's Degree at the California State University at Long Beach in 1994. Titled "The Evolution of California Fire Service Training And Education." You can read the entire thesis through our scrolling reader by going to the More>California State Fire Training page. In addition, Ronny has shared more photos of Ed Bent, go to More>Special Recognition & Award Recipients>Edward W. Bent page to see those. Thanks Ronny! We are sad to report the discovery of another Death in the Line of Duty. Thanks go to retired Marin County FD Senior Captain Pete Martin, who came across a brief mention of this death as published in a Eureka newspaper, while he was reading a page on a California fire lookout history website.
Marin County Fireman Paul W. Hogancamp suffered a heart attack while working on the Mt. Barnaby Fire Lookout in West Marin on May 30, 1961.He fell down the stairs and was later discovered by a fellow fireman who worked at the Mt. Tamalpais Fire Lookout. Sad on the one hand, and pleased on the other, since we'll now be able to share the memory and story of Paul Hogancamp. Once forgotten, now remembered. Read what we know so far under the Line of Duty Deaths menu, scrolling down to 1961. We hope to find a photo of Paul, and some photos of the lookout as it existed at that time. There were several major fires in Marin County in 1919, including this wind-driven wildland interface fire in the southern end of Sausalito in September. Twelve homes, five stores, and a church hall were destroyed before the Sausalito Volunteer Fire Department, the U.S. Army, the San Francisco Fire Department , the Larkspur Fire Department, and numerous members of the public were able to subdue the flames.
When I first found articles about the fire in the Sausalito News from that week, I wondered why the Mill Valley, Corte Madera, and other departments were not there. Why just Larkspur? The answer was of course there was another large fire at the same time, burning homes in Mill Valley and threatening Muir Woods. That story is coming. Start by reading about the Sausalito fire under our Major Fires Menu>Wildland Urban Interface Fires. The Marin County Association of Fire Departments was formed over 87 years ago "…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…" The group began shortly before the huge wildfire in Mill Valley and on Mt. Tamalpais in 1929. It was founded by only a few of the fire departments - the charter members were Cal Park, San Anselmo, and Kentfield. By the next month, Corte Madera and Mill Valley had joined, with Larkspur and Novato soon to follow. After the fire, however, eventually most if not all of the FD's joined in when it became apparent that everyone should work together. By 1930, the group had received a formal commendation from the Marin County Board of Supervisors.
Sadly, the group ended in 1963, but not before giving birth to the Marin County Fire Chiefs Association. This Sunday night MCFCA will hold the 52nd annual Installation Dinner, where in a traditional ceremony the outgoing officers and retiring chiefs will be recognized, awards will be given, and the new officers will be installed. Next week we'll be posting photographs and the details of that event. Read about the histories of the MCAFDs and MCFCA under our "More" menu, under the Current and Former Associations sub-menus. Included are the original minutes and by-laws from 1928 and 1929, along with the 1930 commendation from the BOS. Larkspur Volunteer Fireman Jim Niven was following in his father George's footsteps when he shot the re-enactment film titled "Going on a Call" in 1963. Jim and his father George were amateur filmmakers, using 16mm equipment and film. Back then editing was done by "cutting and splicing" the film with tape, rather than using software today. Jim even edited in some actual fire footage from another day to make the response appear seamless. As previously posted, Jim was tragically killed while responding to a reported structure fire in 1978 in Larkspur. This 3-minute film footage is classic, and serves to remind us of Jim and his many contributions. See this film on the Larkspur FD history page under the current departments menu. “One moment the world is as it is. The next, it is something entirely different. Something it has never been before.” - Anne Rice, Pandora
Today our new content includes a view from the tailboard of the 1978 Line of Duty Death of Larkspur Fireman Jim Niven. At that time Robert Sinnott was a junior at Redwood High School, and had recently joined the Larkspur Fire Department as a volunteer. Sinnott was on the tailboard of Larkspur Engine 1 during the response and terrible crash, and shares his experience in this addition to the page in our Line of Duty Deaths section. Bob Sinnott would continue to serve in LFD after the accident, and a few years later was hired as a firefighter. He would eventually promote to Fire Chief of Larkspur, and retired in 2015 after 38 years the job. He then accepted a position as Deputy Fire Chief with the City of San Rafael FD. We reached out to Bob to seek his story from that day, and thank him for this contribution to our history site. Scroll down below the story from Bill Lellis, and below the photos, to read Bob's story. The photo below shows young Bob Sinnott at a wildland fire drill with Larkspur Captain George Rogers, who has since passed away.. This week we are featuring the history of the Tamalpais Forest Fire District, in existence from 1917-1941. This organization was the father to the creation of the Marin County Fire Department. We've uploaded a great historical document the TFFD published in 1940, just before the end. You can scroll through and read the entire publication.
Originally created by an act of the California State Legislature, the group served admirably for roughly 25 years. Note that most of the leaders were from the communities adjacent to the mountain along it's various flanks. Thanks to Marin County FD for sharing the document, to retired MCFD Captains Greg Jennings and Pete Martin for the photo, and to retired MCFD Firefighter Todd Lando for the logo. Check it out under the Departments<Former<Tamalpais Forest Fire District menu, or click the button below. It was once common for career and volunteer Fire Chiefs to work up until a typical mandatory retirement age of 65 or even 70. Fire Chiefs and firefighters typically have shorter tenures today, with greatly improved public employee retirement systems that typically target 30 years of service. Before the 1980's, however, not only was early retirement unusual, it was sometimes the case that the Chief loved the job so much that they'd say 'I'd like to keep working' if only there were no mandate to step down. Sometimes, of course, physical health issues would also require the separation. San Anselmo Fire Department, for example, had only a handful of Fire Chiefs spanning a period of over 70 years before becoming part of the Ross Valley Fire Protection District in 1980. We will eventually publish all of their biographies.
This week we are sharing the story of San Anselmo Fire Chief Frank Sousa, who served his community for 40 years, retiring in 1973. With thanks to his son Antone Sousa and the Ross Valley Reporter/Marinscope Newspapers, we have the story from 1986 about Frank that was published after he passed away that year. Thanks also to reporter Sue Barnett of the Ross Valley Reporter. Antone, now retired from a teaching career, serves on the San Anselmo Historical Commission, and volunteers at the museum. He has graciously shared many great photos of the San Anselmo Fire Department taken during his father's career. We look forward to updating the story soon with more information on Frank's descendants, and more photos. "A hero is someone who has given his or her life to something bigger than oneself." --Joseph Campbell This week we are featuring the Biography of Edward Wallace Bent (1917-2012). Chief Ronny J. Coleman has authored and shared with us several articles on Ed's legacy, including the explanation of Ed's impact on California State Fire Training and Education. Ask any young firefighter today who Ed Bent was, and I doubt they'll know. This is one of the many reasons we seek to preserve and share our fire service history. As you'll read in Ronny's narrative, Ed was perhaps the most important person in the creation and evolution of what is today the California Fire Service Training & Education System (CFSTES). His influence was especially strong in Northern California, as Ronny shares. This week we are posting the early history of what is now called the Marin County Fire Investigation Team. The Team is a group within the Marin County Fire Prevention Officers, still operating with the same general value that it was originally started with - that of helping each other out with fire investigations, through pooled resources and expertise.
Fire Investigation as a specialty area and profession dates back to 1949, when the International Association of Arson Investigators was formed in Kentucky. The California Conference of Arson Investigators was formed in 1954, and is now Chapter 21 of the International Association. Marin County's size did not warrant full-time positions, but an unusual partnership was formed with most of the fire departments and law enforcement starting in the 1960's. Read about the history and evolution of this joint effort on the Fire Prevention Officers sub-page for the team. Thanks to Author and one of the early members, retired Larkspur Chief William "Bill" Lellis. In the last blog we posted the story of Larkspur Fireman James Niven, who was killed in the line of duty while responding to a possible structure fire on January 2, 1978. Jim was serving as the officer on Larkspur Engine 1, which crashed enroute to the alarm, resulting in his death. We read that the California Highway Patrol determined that excessive speed was to blame, and that Larkspur Fire Department Engineer Willie Wilson was driving.
We who lived through this tragic incident do not want Willie to be remembered in that way. This week we are posting his story under the "Special Recognition and Award Recipients" section. Willie was a U.S. Navy veteran of World War II, and fought in 13 major battles at sea in the Pacific Theater. He and the other members of his crew received 13 battle stars. Willie served as a Gunner's Mate, and we are sure he lost much of his hearing ability due to those terrible battles and gunfire. Read how the loss of his hearing may have played into the accident in 1978. We all have good memories of Willie and his time in the Larkspur FD. For me, I will always remember him in his coveralls, running a buffing machine back and forth over the fire station engine bay floors. He'd be whistling loudly and appeared happy to be doing the work. This was probably a task he learned well on the U.S.S. Louisville, while "swabbing the decks." The station floors were always clean when he was on duty. Rest in Peace Willie. Today we have posted the story of the 15th known Line-of-Duty Death in Marin County, occurring on January 2, 1978. Larkspur Volunteer Fireman (as they were called then) Jim Niven responded as the officer to a reported structure fire in the Greenbrae Convalescent Hospital on South Eliseo Drive. Third-due, the open-cab Engine 1 and it's six firemen including Jim never made it - crashing while enroute. Jim was a third generation businessman and left behind his wife Lorraine and two young daughters, Cynthia and Patricia.
At the time 43-year old Jim was President of the Larkspur Chamber of Commerce, and was the head of the Niven Nursery Company, a long-time producer of roses and orchids. Larkspur Station 1 (now called Station 15) was named in his memory, and an annual college scholarship is given in his name by the Larkspur Association of Volunteer Fireman (later renamed to '...Firefighters' and in 2015 to the Larkspur Volunteer Fire Foundation.) Read about his death in our Line of Duty Deaths section, and look forward to his biography coming soon. Thanks to retired Larkspur Chief Bill Lellis for his personal account of this accident, and to Brian McLeran for the on scene photographs he shared. 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. |
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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