ROGERS — Richard Feast had the heart of a true public servant.
You can’t say that about everyone who gets a check from their government job.
Richard, who retired in 1996 as deputy chief of the Rogers Fire Department, died June 13.
Rich and his B shift adopted me when I moved to Rogers. I knew few people, and always figured they felt a bit obligated to take me in since my dad was a retired firefighter.
I say Rich had the heart of a public servant because — much like my dad — Rich worked as a firefighter, retired, then joined the Benton County Sheriff’s Office where he worked primarily as a fire investigator.
You have got to want to help people if you work as a firefighter and a police officer. Those are two tough jobs where pay is poor — it certainly was when Rich started, as it was for Dad — and, really, people only want to see you when they need you.
Richard was dedicated to the safety not only of Rogers residents, but to his firefighters as well. As a shift commander, then as deputy chief, he oversaw fireground operations and safety was always, always his first concern. He wanted to put the fire out and put it out quickly, but he always wanted to be sure he went back to the station with the same number of firefighters with which he left.
Firefighters are notorious for the tricks they play on one another. One of my favorite Feast stories involves vehicles. He was underneath a fire vehicle working on it — back in the day they did that sort of thing — when some smarty-pants firefighters decided to poke Rich with a stick. Not knowing what the stick was, the story goes, Rich screamed like a girl. Rich wasn’t a small man, and, witnesses said, the truck bounced up and down as he tried to escape from beneath it.
Another favorite story of mine is one Richard told on himself.
If you ever wonder why there is a park — Centennial Park on South First Street — where it looks as if a building should be, well, there was one. It was destroyed in what is referred to as the “downtown fire.”
This happened before my arrival in Rogers, but I believe Rich to have been an honest man — and, really, none of the guys involved denied it happened.
Rich had a crew working in the interior of the building. At some point, the decision was made to abandon ship, so to speak. There was nothing the firefighters could do but let it burn.
As he was trying to leave, Rich fell and landed in the midst of debris. If you have never been in a fire, it is dark and smoky, and firefighters wearing masks to protect their faces and feed them oxygen can’t see too well. They often have to feel their way around.
Anyway, Rich always swore that the firefighters on the hose in front of him stepped on him as they retreated. They obviously got him out, so at some point he was missed. He said that when they got him to the hospital, there was a boot print on his chest from the guys stepping on him.
That part about the boot print? Well, that is a little suspect as no one ever admitted to me that they saw it. And remember, this was well before the time of cellphones and digital cameras or you can bet there would have been photographic evidence.
Rich’s zeal for the job never waned. He was among the first firefighters to get interested in fire investigation. He helped establish a team of investigators at RFD, and his expertise was such he was called to help other jurisdictions.
For reasons I don’t fully understand, there is often a rivalry between firefighters and police officers. I think it is because most of them are male and don’t develop much past the sports rivalry stage.
Richard’s skill and work ethic, however, won him well-deserved respect from the police officers who worked cases with him.
Some of the stories I enjoyed writing most involved training scenarios Rich cooked up with Mike Jones. Like the one in which Jones pretended he was a drug pusher — as police chief he had certainly observed enough of them to put on a pretty good show.
I miss Richard, but I know he is guardian angel to a lot of firefighters. A good job for a good man.
Leeanna Walker is editor of the Rogers Morning News. Follow her on Twitter at www.twitter.com/NWALeeanna.