Former Borough fire chief enjoys Florida

I am out of incidents for this date so the following article that appeared in the October 17, 1975 edition of the News Chronicle is reprinted here in it's entirety.

A year ago Bob Jones was Borough fire chief in Shippensburg.

Last December, Bob left the Cumberland Valley to become fire coordinator in the county which surrounds St. Augustine, Fla.

Now he has received statewide recognition for the outstanding job he has done improving the fire protection of the rural areas of St. Augustine.

The biggest problem faced when he arrived was a shortage of money to purchase fire equipment. Some of the rural companies had only $200 a year to spend on equipment. Through the use of revenue sharing and the institution of a half-mill tax, Bob has upped the income of his county-wide system to over $200,000 for the next year, and has doubled the number of stations serving the county.

The county-wide system, which is run totally by volunteer help, has been modernized so that fire stations are evenly spaced and each station will act as a back-up unit for neighboring stations which have responded to a fire.

All of this is a lot of activity for one year's work but Bob has not confined himself to administration. He has also branched out into education as well.

Last May, the St. Augustine Technical Center introduced a new fire science school, which was pushed by Bob into becoming a huge successes. The school is certified by the Florida State Fire Standards Council and offers everything from a basic 30-hour course for volunteers to a 200-hour course for professional firefighters.

There is no law requiring such training, but since the school opened, 160 of the county's 200 volunteers, who are under Bob's direction, have taken the basic course.

Another 16 firefighters have enrolled in the course in officer's training, 18 are taking forestry fire fighting, and another 14 are taking radiological monitoring.

Upcoming courses include a seminar in arson detection. About 309 men and women have also taken the certification course to become paid firefighters.

Bob Jones served with the Shippensburg volunteer fire companies for 31 years, and was Borough fire chief for over five years of that time.

He worked for the Pennsylvania Power and Light Company for 28 years, and sold fire equipment for 22 years.