Past Presidents

History & Awards

Past Presidents

SO-CAL and NOR-CAL FPO's are very proud of our current and past leaders. We recognize the many contributions they have made and continue to make. Please honor them by taking a few minutes to review the list below:

So Cal FPO's

Nor Cal FPO's

Year	President	Jurisdiction
1949	William E. Fox	Inglewood
1950	Thomas H. Brown	Downey
1951	Robert W. Gain	Downey
1952	Some interesting highlights about Al Hunt from his son and one of our current members, Jim Hunt: He had an all saxophone band in vaudeville days, in the 20's, and traveled around the country playing all the big theaters. In 1929, sound movies came in and vaudeville took a dump. (con't next column)	Al W. Hunt Glendale So he was in a sheet music shop one day in Glendale in 1929, and a Fireman came up to him and said, the Fire Department is starting a band, why don't you join the Fire Department. So he did, and spent 32 years there, made BC, and got the Fire Prevention bug like all of us, and spent many years in the bureau. He used to tell me that when I got on the FD to make engineer and stay there, but I didn't have enough sense to listen. turns out he was right!!. Jim Hunt
1953	Milan A. Priest	Los Angeles County
1954	Leonard V. Foster	Long Beach
1955	Harry E Wainwright	San Bernardino County
1956	Karl Saunders	Santa Barbara City
1957	William C. McDade	Santa Monica
1958	George S. Figley	Los Angeles County
1959	Robert H. Beech	Montebelo
1960	Leslie L. McCloud	Monrovia
1961		Fred C. Hardesty Los Angeles County
1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980	William I. J. Coulter Ira A. Anderson William R. Tripp James M. Hamaek Russ Granger Sam Tanksley Charles Anderson Paul Wohlers Bernard Dicker Gaford Medley Richard Pfeiffer Robert Richter Jean F. Slaughter Angelo Minchella Joseph Warren Bill Tomes Walley Trotter Joseph Warren Jim Timmons	El Segundo El Segundo Rialto San Gabriel Whittier Los Angeles County Buena Park Santa Monica Los Angeles County Pasadena Inglewood Los Angeles City Pasadena Santa Ana La Habra San Diego Orange County La Habra Torrance
1981	Don Oaks (FPO Prez in 1981) retired from Santa Barbara County Fire in 2001, completing 39 years in the fire service (13 years with the City of El Segundo). During the last 15 years of his career he divided his energy between fire marshalling for the County, and wildland fire fighting as Plans Section Chief and Information Officer of a USFS incident command team. (con't)	Don Oaks Santa Barbara County In the mid 70’s he created the Fire Protection Plan and subsequently brought about it’s inclusion in the Uniform Fire Code, Art. 86, ICC’s UWIC, and more recently, the California Building (Chapt. 7a) and Fire Codes. In the early 80’s he, according to industry critics, adopted the most restrictive sprinkler ordinance in the U.S. for an unincorporated area. He still plays with fire by co-chairing our WUI committee.
1982	Robert Miller	San Diego
1983	Albert (Bud) Moody	Brea
1984	Mikel Parks	San Bernardino City
1985	Lynne Michaelis	Fountain Valley
1986	Denny Haas	Torrance Fire Department
1987	Homer Miller	Los Angeles City
1988		Joseph Piscioneri Ontario
1989		Ted Wackerman Oceanside Our good friend and comrade passed away in December 2006
1990		Oystein (Sam) Husoe Long Beach
1991	Eileen Salmon	Hawthorne
1992		Allen Thomason San Diego
1993		Dennis Stangeland Los Angeles County
1994		Carl Thibeault Palm Springs
1995		Michael T. Bennet Santa Barbara County
1996		Dennis Lockard Newport Beach
1997	Carolyse Pfeiffer-Acedo	Redondo Beach
1998		Bruce Kerl La Mesa
1999	Sheri Benge	Anaheim
2000		Steve Locati Rancho Cucamonga
2001		Scott Corrin UC Riverside
2002		Tom Oakes Orange County Fire Authority
2003		Penni Overstreet-Murphy San Bernardino County
2004		Laura Blaul Orange County Fire Authority
2005		Karyn Vaudreuil Carlsbad
2006		Ken Quick Culver City
2007		Hank Teran Long Beach
2007 and 2008		Ken Kraus Los Angeles City
2009		Doug Dupree San Bernardino City

Year	President	Jurisdiction
1953	Jim Sweeney	Oakland
1954-55	Rod Barth	Stockton
1956-57	Babe Wade	Redding
1958-59	Al Hanson	Berkeley
1960	John Reynolds	Monterey
1961	Chief DePauli began his career in the fire service as a volunteer with the Grass Valley Fire Dept. in 1948. After 5 years with Grass Valley, a dream came true. He was able to combine his hobby with a career. On June 1, 1953, Matt DePauli was hired as a firefighter by the Arcade Fire Dept. During his career he advanced through the ranks with his area of expertise and specialization being the Fire Prevention Bureau. A high priority for the fire safety of citizens within his district was a prime force within his career. Chief DePauli was involved in the formation of the Northern California Fire Prevention Officers Association and served as president. A major undertaking was the formation of the Uniform Fire Codes in conjunction with the Southern Section. This was an achievement he was proud to have been part of. The Chief had a relentless interest in the Fire Service and worked endlessly to pursue its improvement. As with the era of his tenure, he followed legislation that would affect his district and department. (con't)	Matt Depauli Arcade (con't) Through his many associations with fire service organizations, he worked for improvements. It was a direct result of his actions that a rent free lease was secured for Station 4. He played a major role in the formation of the Joint Powers Communication. Chief DePauli was a staunch member and supporter of the California Fire Chief's Association, California Arson Investigator's, the International Fire Chief's Association, Sacramento Valley Fire Chief's Association,, Sacramento County Fire Chief's Association, Sacramento/Yolo Fire Prevention Officers Association and the Arcade Firemen's Association.
1962	Herb Scales	Monterey
1963	Bruce Wiggins	Santa Clara County
1964	Pat Parker	Arden
1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974	Gene Nunes Dan Hollywood Les Johnson John Gearhart Nick Arhontes Gene Borden Lonnie Johnson Jes Rodgers Emmet Condon	Oakland Menlo Park Salinas San Jose Hayward Campbell Florin Santa Clara San Francisco
1975	Joined the Napa Fire Dept. in 1962, was assigned as engineer after a few shifts,became shift inspector/investigator in 1965, promoted to FM/DC in 1968,served 17 years in that capacity, 1985 served as intrem fire chief and than assumed DC in charge of special operations overseeing training, developing a haz mat team and designing,overseeing construction and completion of fire station # 3, retired in 1988. Over the 17 years spent as FM/DC we had very aggressive fire prevention program including the engine companies which inspected every occupancy except 1&2 family dwellings along with the training division were able to meet ISO criteria for a class 2 fire dept. Developed a fire investigation unit that included the district attorney's office and all local fire and law enforcement agencies in the county that was very efficient in determing cause and origin and prosecution as required.Because of all the activity noted above we were able to expand the division to include FM/DC,3 captains,1 inspector,3 shift inspectors,hazard control officer and a part time secretary for a city of 50,000 population. Of the many codes and ordinances I proposed for adoption, I was most proud of a fire sprinkler in the late 70's that far more restrictive than the building code for commercial occupancies which was adopted by the city council on a 5/0 vote.	Jim Luce Napa The ordinance opened the door for fire sprinklering of multi family and single occupancies in late 80's.Over the years I was fortunate to serve as president of several fire and law enforcement associarions but none so special as the NDFire prevention officer's in 1975.My 20 plus years with the NDFPO's assoc. was very rewarding as I had a chance to serve on or chair several committees covering a wide range of subjects. I took on the task of rewriting the cal chief's Inspector's guide had it printed and delivered to the fpo's for sale and distribution which help provide income for the many of fpo's activities. The final honor in my career was receiving my good friend, Charles Gray Memorial award, for contribution to the cal chiets and ndfpo's. It was my good fortune to work with hundreds of dedicated fire officials throughout the state of california and beyond. Retirement finds me enjoying activities with the family,motorhome travel & touring in my restored vehicles & other tasks as directed by my wife!!!
1976	Sal Leonardi	Campbell
1977	Charlie began his career with the Fremont Fire Department in the early 1960's. He later moved on to become the Fire Marshal for the Santa Rosa Fire Department. Unfortunately, Charlie passed away in 1985. (con't)	Charlie Gray Santa Rosa (con't) Chief Gray contributed his time and talents to the betterment of the Association by promoting fire and life safety through code development processes and throughout the community. As a tribute to his dedicated service, the Charles H. Gray Memorial Fund Service Award and Scholarship program was established.
1978		Jim McLaughlin Palo Alto
1979	Al Forbes	Monterey
1980	Jon Buchanan	Sacramento County
1981	Ken Mazza	San Rafael
1982		Jim McLaughlin Palo Alto
1983		Steve Hart Monterey
1984	Hank Schmidt	So. Co. Fire Authority
1985		Bill Greene UC Davis
1986		Ted Camicia CorteMadera
1987		Darrell Harguth Contra Costa County
1988	Dave Milanese	Foster City
1989		Robert Kinney Vallejo
1990	Keith Schoenthal	San Rafael
1991		Larry Larson UC Davis
1992	Larry Agee	Chico
1993		Tom Elliot Novato Tom joined the Daily City FD in 1964 as a volunteer. In 1965 he joined the Pacifica FD as a Fire Fighter. He joined the Novato Fire District in 1976 as a Fire Inspector. He remained with Novato until his retirement in 1998 as Division Chief/Fire Marshal. Sept. 2008: Tom still occassionally attends Nor Cal FPO meetings
1994	Mike Argo	Contra Costa Co.
1995		Eduardo Saiz Daly City
1996		Fort Hartsfield San Ramon Valley
1997		Tonya Hoover UC Berkeley Orinda-Moraga FD 2008-SFM Office, Asst. State Fire Marshal
1998		Rick Rodewald Monterey
1999		Larry Monette Santa Clara
2000		Rick Terry San Ramon Valley
2001		Danielle Stefani Livermore/Pleasanton
2002		Forrest Craig Novato
2003		Mike Stewart Sac Metro Fire District
2004		Weston Arvin UC Davis
2005		Dennis Mathisen Roseville
2006		Angela Giuliani Santa Clara
2007		Darren Drake Napa
2008		Morgana Yahnke Fairfield

Advertise here...

Past Presidents

Login Form