TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

Highlands Today

Fire Chief Hangs Up His Hat

Kathy Waters/Highlands Today

Avon Park Fire Chief Terry Feickert is retiring after 33 years in the fire service.

ADVERTISEMENT

By DOUG CARMAN

Highlands Today

Published: August 13, 2008

AVON PARK - Terry Feickert's plush leather seat squeaks as he rocks back and forth behind his desk Tuesday morning. Everything from his books to his old firefighter helmet was still in place inside the office, which was built while he was the chief. But the cigar-smoking Avon Park Fire Chief was more than ready to get away from it.

"There's only certain things I'll miss," said Feickert, who plans to hang up his firefighter's coat for the last time Aug. 24. He has been the fire chief for 10 years and a firefighter with the department for 33.

Feickert, 57, announced his retirement at a city council meeting Monday evening, after handing his letter to City Manager Sarah Adelt. She said after that meeting that she has not selected a successor, but Capt. Steve Marquart and a city official confirmed Tuesday that he will be the acting fire chief after Feickert steps down.

Marquart said he did not anticipate taking on any major projects with the fire department since the annual budget for the department was settled.

Remembering 33 Years

When Feickert joined the department in 1975, he never really wanted to be a firefighter. He was in college, but by then he had a wife and child, and he needed to support them.

"I'm fortunate," Feickert said in retrospect. "This was not my chosen career in life, but once it happened, I can't think of anything else I would have done."

When he started, most of the firefighters had no specific training, and he described the department as a "reactionary" unit that waited around until a fire started but never focused on preventing them. When he became the fire chief, he decided to change that approach."We want to stop it (a fire) before it occurs," he said.

He tapped then-fire inspector Charles Anderson to act as a public fire prevention educator. Currently, he guesses that 10 percent of his department's manpower goes toward public education, even though Anderson left the department to work as the Orange County School Board's fire official.

Airport Manager C.B. Shirey, who promoted then-Capt. Feickert to the chief's position when Shirey was the city manager, pointed to that shift in direction as the outgoing chief's most noticeable accomplishment. Shirey also credited Feickert for boosting the department's morale and for following through several upgrades to the department's equipment.

Feickert's colleagues painted him as a caring and "fair but firm" chief. Anderson, who worked with him for 20 years and still talks to him over the phone on occasion, said he is a "caring" man who watched him and his family grow.

"My experiences were very memorable, very warm," Anderson said in a phone interview. Anderson remembered when he considered going to college but complained to Feickert about the time it would take to graduate.

"He said three years are going to pass whether you go to school or not," Anderson recalled. He eventually worked his college studies into his work schedule. "Because I finished my master's ... I was able to move forward and now become the fire official for the tenth largest school district in the U.S. I owe part of that to him."

Feickert said he has no plans on what he wants to do next. He joked that he might grow his hair really long, sit on his porch every morning, beer in hand, and wave his neighbors on as they head to work. Either way, he's not making any sappy goodbyes.

"Now I may be crying two months later out of boredom," he said, laughing.

Doug Carman can be reached at 386-5838 or dcarman@highlandstoday.com

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT