I write with a heavy heart that our good friend and colleague Frank Florence passed away Tuesday night. Frank was approaching his 12th anniversary as a Senior Fire Service Specialist with NFPA and had touched the lives of hundreds of people over those years. Prior to joining NFPA, he was a member of the Salt Lake City, Utah, Fire Department, serving with honor and retiring as Fire Chief.
Our condolences go out to his wife Diane and their two sons Randy and Robert.
As Ken Willette, PFP Division Manager says, "Frank you have answered your last alarm and now can rest in peace".
For those of you who didn't know Frank, he had fire service in his blood. One of his main objectives in life was making the lives of firefighters safer so they could go home to their families and friends. For those of you who worked with Frank, you already knew this.
If you knew Frank and would like to share any comments, we would love to see those comments and share them with Frank's family.
Another hard lesson learned this week....Live, love, and laugh....today...for there may not be a tomorrow.
Rest in Peace Frank.
Thank you for sharing the thoughts and sentiments of so many of us at NFPA, Stacey. Frank's kindness and support will be deeply missed.
Posted by: Michele Steinberg | July 29, 2010 at 04:34 PM
I was fortunate enough to work with Frank for the first 16 years of my career on the Salt Lake City Fire Department. I was very privileged to serve as his Administrative Captain for the last three years of his career. Frank had a terrific work ethic that was only matched by his dedication to his family. He recently shared with a mutual friend that he thought that 70 might be a good age to consider retirement.
Many of you knew Frank in his second career. His first was no less stellar. He achieved the rank of Lieutenant with eight years in the service, Captain with 11 years, and he was promoted to Battalion Chief at the age of 35. He was that rare combination of a solid fireground officer and an excellent administrator.
Frank also faced much personal adversity. The loss of his son Richard in an auto bike incident in July of 1979 devastated us all. Frank lead his family in turning to their faith for strength and the courage to move forward. Frank had a life threatening illness in 1992 and made a full recovery.
I will miss his lightning sharp wit and was even glad to be its occasional target.
He understood priorities. When I was a new member of Headquarters staff, he told me to go home one night and reminded me, "The real work of the fire service is done by the people running up and down the street on those red trucks."
We have lost a dear colleague and a very dear friend.
Dan Andrus
Fire Chief
City of Concord, NH
Posted by: Dan Andrus | August 03, 2010 at 11:47 AM