After five years in Kendall County and more than four decades dousing fires and conducting inspections, Deputy Fire Marshal Harold DeHart is hanging up his clipboard to enjoy retirement.
DeHart developed ties with longtime Boerne-based locals including Fire Marshal Jeff Fincke and his brother Mike during his early firefighting days in Castle Hills.
The siblings are among the people he’s really going to miss, DeHart said, and the feeling is mutual.
“He’s really put a lot into the program and pulled it a long way,” Jeff Fincke said of DeHart’s departure, which is set for January. “I hate to see him leave, but I understand if it’s time to go, it’s time to go.”
Many volunteer fire department chiefs at a Monday meeting bid farewell to DeHart, who inevitably helped lighten their load over the years by ensuring all businesses – new and old –were in line with fire safety and prevention requirements.
Asked about the most memorable part of his tenure, DeHart said, “The county employees that I have developed good friendships with and our working relationship” — including many departments, agencies, businesses and county residents.
DeHart added he won’t forget “the main people that I work with, and the many, many people I’ve had contact with either through my inspections of the commercial businesses in the county or the ones that decide to open a business here and build from the ground up. It’s the multitude of people I’ve been able to talk to and help them do the right thing.”
DeHart is no novice when it comes to fire safety and prevention.
He kicked off his career in 1981when he joined the Castle Hills Fire Department, serving 36 years in the SanAntonio suburb until taking the deputy fire marshal job in Kendall County.
DeHart was a captain for Castle Hills during the 2014 fire at the Wedgwood Senior Apartments, which claimed the lives of five older adults. The incident led to sweeping reforms in San Antonio to make high-rise buildings safer.
DeHart received his fire-inspection certification in 2000.
The outgoing first responder said his wife is getting a head start in their joint retirement, leaving her job at a doctor’s office in November.
Once he’s stepped down, DeHart said he looks forward to spending time during his golden years with his spouse, his children and nine grandchildren.
County officials hope to fill DeHart’s spot before January.
Fincke said, ideally, the county wants someone with firefighting experience, a law enforcement background and certification by the Texas Commission on Fire Protection to conduct fire inspections.
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