Retiring but not leaving his duties

GLENDALE — Operations Deputy Chief Steve Howard was just 21 years old when he started a rigorous six-week training academy 30 years ago to become a firefighter with the Glendale Fire Department.

He passed the academy and became a firefighter with the department Nov. 6, 1978.

“I didn’t know all I was getting in for,” Howard said. “It was just an exciting time, full of enjoyment and enthusiasm.”

He has since worked his way up the department’s ranks — from engineer to captain to battalion chief to fire marshal to, finally, his current position as operations deputy chief.

Firefighting has always been in Howard’s blood.

“I love to be able to help people,” he said.

His father was a Los Angeles City Fire Department firefighter for 35 years and sparked his interest in pursuing a career in the same field. But Tuesday, Howard, 51, of Valencia will be retiring his firefighting hat after 30 years of service.

As deputy chief, he has mentored fire captains on how to provide efficient service to the city’s residents.

“I ensure that we provide the best level of service possible to Glendale residents,” Howard said. “And I take really good care of the people who provide that service to our community.”

His vast experience has allowed him to handle stressful incidents calmly and tactically, Glendale Fire Chief Harold Scoggins said.

“Those things come with time,” he said. “Those things don’t come overnight.”

But for Scoggins, Howard will be leaving behind a legacy of good work, he said.

“He has been everything from a mentor to a friend to me,” Scoggins said.

Howard’s position will remain vacant for an unknown time, he said.

Howard has always been passionate about ethics, said Glendale Fire Capt. Tom Propst, who worked through the department’s ranks with Howard.

“He’s an inspiration to me and is a great mentor,” Propst said.

Since Howard announced his retirement, teaching and volunteering opportunities have opened up for him.

He is hoping that after his retirement, he will be more available to volunteer at his church.

“We’ll see what God has in mind,” Howard said.

He also will spend more time with his wife, Mindy, whom he has been married to for 27 years, and his daughters, Amanda, 25, Sara, 23, and Amy, 17, and his son, Josh, 20.

But while he will be officially retired come Tuesday, Howard doesn’t plan on leaving Glendale or the department.

He will try to help firefighters or captains who need advice.

“I want to make myself available to the department in any way,” Howard said.

Howard also will be the president next year of the Character and Ethics Project, an independent citizens group of which he has been a member for about five to six years. The project is made up of community members who try to promote good ethical decision-making skills as well as good character, he said.

Since Howard has been with the project, he developed the Firehouse Alternative-to-Suspension program that teaches Glendale and Hoover high school students who were suspended from school how to be honest, compassionate and responsible.

Students go to a fire station once a month for several hours on a Saturday instead of picking up trash off the campus grounds, which is the typical punishment at the schools, he said.

“We want those high school kids to be successful,” Howard said.

Firefighters, he said, not only battle blazes, but also reach out to the community they serve.

“Firefighters are role models,” Howard said. “People need role models.

The role of a traditional firefighter has changed in the last decade, Howard said. Firefighters, he said, are now being trained to handle terrorist attacks, and the future of firefighting will be to train fire departments to handle any emergency and risk incident.

“Our role is so much more than responding to emergencies,” he said. “We want to prevent emergencies.”