Our firefighter of the year has been in the fire service for 14 years. During his career he has become proficient in firefighting, technical rescue, and hazmat. The knowledge he gains he gladly shares with others, clearly demonstrating this by the life saving emergency first aid techniques he taught to the ROTC and 300 Civil Engineers. Also a gifted fire instructor, he has provided 45 fire protection classes and participates annually with Fire Prevention Week.

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                             Jamie                                                   Jamie at work
 

Bob also served as the Executive Director for our Arizona Fire Chiefs Association for 11 years. It was Bob’s excellent business and financial management skills that helped to transform the Fire Chiefs Association into a profitable and effective organization. But Bob’s contributions to public safety did not end there. He is an advisor to the Executive Board of the Arizona Fire Mechanics, a State Fire Management Grant Review Committee Member and has been an instrumental part of our state fire school.
 

In 2002 Bob formed Sequoia Educational Assistance, a non-profit group to provide educational assistance funding for firefighters. Last June the foundation donated thousands of dollars to this fire school and to the Arizona Fire Mechanics Association.

Long before Bob began the foundation, he was scavenging from the rich to give to the poor. Bob may have liked having all that old gear in the house but his garage, living room, and bedroom began to overflow with gear. In order to keep the peace with his lovely wife Joyce, he had to construct a separate 40’ x 40’ storage building to store all the gear!
 

Bob

Bob has always lived his life on the run. If not flying off to a conference or to help a fire department pick-up a new fire truck, Bob stays busy helping volunteer departments get their non-profit tax status and educating subdivisions on how to become fire districts.

Although Bob is now officially retired from the Arizona Fire Service, he doesn’t have any plans to change his daily routines helping those who help others. Bob does what he does because he wants to -- not because he has to. He couldn’t think of any reason why he would change what he is doing now.

No matter what the emergency has ever been, Bob Weber has always been one to come up with workable solutions. For the Arizona Fire Service, in so many ways, Bob Weber, has been a true "Master of Disaster"!