California rural firefighter honored for 50 years service

Wayne Hagemeyer is honored with a special cake for his 50 years of firefighting service by California Rural Fire Protection District Fire Chief Shawn Merrill.
Wayne Hagemeyer is honored with a special cake for his 50 years of firefighting service by California Rural Fire Protection District Fire Chief Shawn Merrill.

Firefighter Wayne Hagemeyer was honored Saturday for 50 years service by the California Rural Fire Protection District with a special cake, a plaque and a 50-year pin.

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Houston Chronicle

James Jarvis, 2, plays at the controls of a Takeuchi excavator in the parking lot of First Methodist Church on Saturday, Oct. 26, 2013, in Houston. The Touch-a-Truck Family Festival featured trucks of all kinds from fire engines to dump trucks. Kids were invited to climb on, explore and take photos on any of the trucks in the parking lot. (AP Photo/ Houston Chronicle, Smiley N. Pool)

The award was presented at a dinner at California Rural Fire Station One on Jefferson City Road.

Others honored for their years of rural firefighting were: David Geier, 35 years; Bobby Borts, 25 years; John Volkart, 15 years; and Sarah Turner, 10. In addition, former fire chief Steve Walters was presented with a special rural fire department blanket. Strobel announced this is his last year, as he is retiring from the board of directors.

The catered dinner began at 6 p.m. with about two dozen firefighters, board members and guests present at Rural Fire Station No. 1 for the dinner and meeting. Board President David Strobel and Fire Chief Shawn Merrill thanked everyone for their support.

The California Rural Volunteer Fire Department was organized in 1954. In 1969, the department relocated to a facility on Railroad Avenue. In 1999, it was reorganized as a fire protection district, supported by a tax levy. Over the last six decades, the volunteer firefighting entity has expanded from a single white 1954 GMC fire engine, sharing a facility with the city of California Fire Department, to a firefighting entity with five fire houses and more than a dozen trucks, including brush trucks, pumper trucks, tankers and pumper/tankers.