Fire battalion chief ending long career

By Rod Ohira
Advertiser Staff Writer

Battalion Chief Keith Williams, one of the Honolulu Fire Department's most savvy and experienced field officers, reports to work for the last time today.

"I never looked at being a firefighter as a job," said the 54-year-old Williams, who is retiring after nearly 33 years with the department to do volunteer work in an unspecified medical field or offer career counseling for young adults. "It was a career that grew on me."

Williams, a graduate of Kamehameha Schools, became a Honolulu firefighter after serving in the Air Force.

He held the rank of fire captain for 17 years while he gained experience as a field officer and recruit trainer, before being promoted to battalion chief seven years ago.

As a battalion chief, Williams worked in the training division for two years before moving over to fire operations in 1996.

Fire fatalities are the most difficult part of the job to deal with, he says. The most tragic for Williams was a 1973 Palama residential fire that killed three people.

Especially demanding, he said, are what he calls the "wildman fires" in brush, which call for skillful maneuvering of manpower because of wind changes. He's handled them all on the frontline.

"The scariest (firefighting experience) was last December at the City & County's corporation yard," Williams said. "It involved two 1,000-pound high-pressure propane tanks that were leaking. If there was an ignition, it would have leveled the area."