Page 107 - History of the Colton Fire Department

ing a fire hose. Once he became Captain, he was back
in the action which is what he enjoyed most. He later
became Battalion Chief in charge of suppression, mainte-
nance and training. In 1982, Ron Gemmel was promoted
as the 5th fulltime Chief to follow Al Teague.
Every Firefighter has those memorable calls that
stand out. Ron Gemmel recalled an incident that he was
on where a house was completely charged with smoke.
Lines were pulled and Ron was making access through an
open window. He slid open the window and felt around
as he straddled the window sill. Still not being able to
see, as he lowered himself to his knees, Ron looked up
– finding himself nose to nose with a huge German Shep-
pard. It was not a good feeling but there was no turning
back as he pulled the other leg in. The dog didn’t make
any sudden moves and neither did Ron as he slowly
turned, only to see another Sheppard at his side. Hesi-
tating long enough to see that the dogs were not angry
for him breaking into their house, Ron saw a crack of
light coming from one side of the room. He crawled in
that direction to find a door to the outside and was able
to open it. The dogs were the first ones out the door.
This was another case with food on the stove and no one
home. The use of breathing apparatus was not strictly
enforced at this time but neither was hearing protection.
Between the load sirens and the smoke that they ate,
made for a tough fireman.
While Ron Gemmel remembered that the city
had buried a time capsule in the front of City Hall back
in 1987 and it was to be opened in 50 years. There is a
bolder in front of the City Hall with a plaque that reads
that the time capsule will be opened in 2037. Ron said
that he remembers the fire department had put a few arti-
cles in it.
Ron remembers when he started on the floor in
56’. There were the regular paid guys and the volun-
teers. When the guys got together for meetings or train-
ing, afterwards they might grill something to eat and the
volunteers could have all the beer that they wanted. The
regular guys could have 1 beer with dinner.

1983
Station 3 was constructed in south Colton at 1100
S. La Cadena. There was a new hire list of 9 Firefighters
and medics to be added to the roster. Prior to the station
opening, Colton introduced them to the other stations for Top; Captain Dana DeAntonio after extinguishing a house fire.
a month or two for a training period.
Middle; OES unit on a fire in Devore.

Bottom; Brent Bailey demonstrating a Hospital call in.
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