Part 2

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History of the Fort, Part 1

I really did retire from the fire service on March 31, 1998 after 31 years of service; 19 years with the Fremont Fire Department and another 12 years as the Fire Marshal for the San Ramon Valley Fire Protection District. Although I felt I had about the most rewarding career a person could expect, I really felt like it was time to go; and I can honestly say now that it was a good decision! I retired on a Friday; I left work at about noon, and by the time I got up on Saturday morning, I was well adjusted to my new lifestyle! I haven't been totally out of the fire service loop since I retired though. After about a month of kicking back and learning to master the art of doing very little, slowly, I accepted a part time position with Tyson Fire Investigations as a Fire Investigator. I have to tell you, this was a very interesting experience. I was doing on the average of about a fire a week. I was used to arriving on scene while fire crews were still on scene, and getting to work while there was still some realistic expectation of determining the cause. About the third fire I worked for Tyson involved a vehicle fire. The fire had occurred two months earlier. The vehicle owner lived in Burlingame; the fire occurred in San Francisco; when we were contacted the vehicle was located a salvage yard in Vallejo. It was completely destroyed! Not only that, it had rusted, and had been moved around in the yard a number of times. Needless to say, I was unable to determine origin and cause! Now I'm not saying this was a typical fire investigation in the private sector, but it might give you some idea as to what goes on out here. After about a year of fire investigation, I'd had enough. I worked with great people, and I was really treated well. The extra money was nice too! I have to be honest though; there were some things I didn't like about the job: I didn't ever know when I was going to work, where I would be working, or how long I might be. In fact, the only thing I could be sure of was that when I finished, I would be hot, tired and dirty! Not really what a retired guy wants. I gave my notice to the owner. At the time his Marketing Director had just resigned and he was looking for a new person. He offered me the position. I said, "no thanks," "I'm only interested in part time work." Well, he replied, " I don't see why we can't do that." "In fact," he said, "you can pretty much set your on hours." How do you say no to that? To cut to the chase I accepted, even though I didn't really know what it was that a marketing director did. As it turns out, a Marketing Director mostly meets with clients and prospective clients; in our case these were Insurance Claims Adjustors. The meetings mostly involved groups of Adjustors organized into "Claims Associations." There were about 10 Associations that I met with on a monthly basis. Those of you who have known me know that I have a lot of experience attending meetings! I was in my element. Did I mention that most of the meetings were of the luncheon variety? I really liked being Marketing Director! Actually, there were more serious duties and responsibilities associated with the position of Marketing Director. I just chose to emphasize those which I enjoyed the most. To Wayne Tyson's credit, he kept his word about allowing a great deal of flexibility in the work schedule. I probably could have remained in this position until this day, but another opportunity came along. In late 2000 I was contacted by the Committee for Fire Safe Dwellings with regards to a part time position as Executive Director. The former Director, Sam Husoe, had left to accept another position. We reached agreement on terms quickly, and with a great deal of regret, I left the employ of Tyson Fire Investigation. As Executive Director for the CFFD, my experience as Fire Marshal really came in handy. Sam Husoe, and Bob Burns before him, had done most of the hard core campaigning for new laws and regulations, and had been extremely effective. My role was more as a resource for Fire and Building Officials, contractors, homeowners, home builders and Home Owner Associations. Unfortunately, with the advent of the attacks on our country by terrorists on September 11, 2001 and the resultant decline in business revenues, the Committee members decided that they would not be able to continue to fund the position of Executive Director. So, on December 31, 2001, having served exactly 12 months, my position ended. For the first time since my official retirement, I was without a part time job. Since then I've done very little in the way of part time work. I've taken on a few very short term consultant projects, but nothing else. My main part time occupation has been web site design and maintenance. If you read "History of the Fort, Part 1," you may recall this was something I was getting involved in about the time I retired. During the period of time that I was working for Tyson Fire Investigation and the Committee for Fire Safe Dwellings, I also involved in web site design and maintenance. I started with the Northern Division of the Fire Prevention Officers Section. In late 1998 I picked up the California Conference of Arson Investigators. While working for Tyson, I also acquired maintenance agreements on about ten assorted Claims Adjustors Associations as well as several private clients. I was forced to turn these clients over to some one else when I accepted the position with the Committee; I just didn't want to spend that much time working! In early 2004 the Southern and Northern FPO's asked me to develop a site containing content from both Divisions. Our site went on line in February 2004 and has been a tremendous success. In 2006 I took over maintenance of the web site for the California Automatic Fire Alarm Association (CAFAA). This involved a major redesign of the site that the organization seems very happy with. However, retirement certainly isn't all about working part time! My wife Sharon and I have been able to do a lot of the things we simply didn't have time for while I was working full time. We enjoyed a tour of Europe in 2001, including England, France, Switzerland, and Italy. It was our first ever trip to Europe, and we thoroughly enjoyed it! In 2003 we discovered the wonderful world of river cruising; plush small ships with all the amenities that cruise various rivers throughout the world. All the comforts and luxuries of big ship cruising, but with only 120 passengers! Our first cruise took us from Amsterdam to Vienna; rivers included the Rhine, Main, and Danube and included the transcontinental canal with took us up 1300 feet through a series of locks to the continental divide. Then down again where we continued on the Danube to Vienna. In 2004 we took a tour of the United Kingdom including England, Scotland and Wales. This was a land tour, but still a very informative and enjoyable trip. A lot of sightseeing, with very little time to rest, but still a trip we can highly recommend. We returned to river cruising in 2005 when we boarded the Duoro Queen in Porto, Portugal for a cruise down the Duoro River through Portugal and the North of Spain. We were even more convinced that river cruising was the way to go! We extended or cruise with a three night stay in Lisbon in a five star hotel before returning home. Having done two river cruises, and thoroughly enjoying them, we managed yet another in 2006. We started on the Danube in Romania and cruised north through Bulgaria, Serbia and ended our cruise in Budapest, Hungary. At this point, we have seen the highlights of the United Kingdom, western Europe, Central Europe and Eastern Europe. In the near future we hope to revisit some of the areas we've seen, spending more time in individual countries. Our tentative plans include a possible tour of Spain in 2008, but, who knows what the future might bring? A couple of sad notes: Since my retirement, I have lost both parents. My father, himself a retired Fire Fighter, passed away in January of 1999. My mother passed away in December of 2006. Two of the most influential people in my life are gone, but not forgotten. However, I know my parents wouldn't want me to dwell on life's less happy moments, so: Since my retirement, and being able to move from behind a desk, I have managed to lose 20 pounds, adopt a more regular exercise program, and basically get into just about the best physical condition of my life! Oh, not that I claim to be as strong, fast, or agile as I was earlier in life; age has a way of taking care of that! I was inspired in this effort by Sharon, who began a more sensible diet and walking program shortly after I retired. She had such great success that I decided the best thing I could do was emulate her. We still eat all the things we like, just less of them. We also don't get carried away with the exercise aspects; we just try to lead a more reasonable lifestyle and avoid most excesses. So far, it seems to be working. Most recently, I have become an avid Arena Football Fan. Mostly the television variety, but I have been to a couple of games this year with my wife and daughter. Our team is the San Jose Sabercats. As of this time (July 2007) they have just won the Division title and will play in the Championship game in one week. Go Cats! I don't know if there will be a "History of the Fort" Part 3; or if anyone would even want to read it! If you happen to read this, and you know me from my past life, I'd appreciate hearing from you. My e-mail address is the same as it has been since I first acquired an internet connection: forthart@pacbell.net. Please drop me a line if you can. Thanks, Fort