Mare Island Naval Shipyard Fire Department and Museum

09/26/2022

Today I learned that John Hartman, the original drummer with the Doobie Brothers, has died recently. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2020 with original members Pat Simmons, Tom Johnston and Tiran Porter. The Doobie Brothers have been my favorite band since the early 1970s and are to this very day.

09/04/2022

Yesterday we held our MIFD Reunion at Ron Smith's home in Napa. We had a smaller attendance that earlier reunions, but we still had a good crowd. Its always great to see my fellow MIFD members at these events, and I hope we'll continue to hold them.

04/27/2022

In 1989 I was honored to receive the ONLY "Fireman of the Year Award" given to a Mare Island Firefighter and it was voted on by all the firefighters and Inspectors at Mare Island. I think part of the vote was due to the fact that, as our Union Presdient, I got every MIFD Firefighter and Inspector into a class action lawsuit that was settled by the Federal Government. NO one got less that $5,000 and some got as much as $15,000.00 due to the deliberate miscalculations of our overtime pay. I'm still in touch with Ira Lechner, the lawyer that won this case for us!

02/15/2022

This date is confirmed for our next MIFD Reunion later this year. Please confirm your attendance by email to me at [email protected]. This is for former MIFD employees and the widows of those that have passed on:

We talked about a date for our MIFD reunion. And I feel
3 September 2022, at noon ,would be a good date that works for me. Ron Smith

02/09/2022

Here you see me, in 1983. giving a Fire Extinguisher Use class at the Day Care Center on Mare Island Naval Shipyard. During my first 5 years in that Fire Department, I gave over 200 such classes every year to employees, contractors and military personnel assigned to Mare Island. You'll note that my last name is NOT "hutchins" but Hutchings...but it's still ME.

01/05/2022

My letter to the VA Martinez Clinic. Letter of thanks:
Mark D. Hutchings
Concord, CA 94520
12/22/2021
ChiefAdministrator,
VA Outpatient Clinic 150 Muir Road
Martinez, CA 94553-4668
Two weeks ago, on Wednesday and Friday evenings, I went to bed and couldn't catch my breath while laying down and had to sit up to sleep both nights. I didn't think much of it but I went to the VA Medical Clinic, in Martinez, to get the times of a diabetic clinical trial that I was to participate in, and casually mentioned to them the two episodes I mentioned here. They took me into Urgent Care, and immediately transported me, by ambulance, to John Muir Hospital in Concord. There they ran additional tests and confirmed that I'm suffering from Heart Failure and fitted me with a "Life Vest" that I now were 24/7 except when I shower. It's equipped with a defibrillator, powered by a battery pack and control box that I carry everywhere I go now and even to sleep.
My heart function is at 20% of normal, and all my medications have now been changed to reflect this. I'll see a physical therapist, there, that will help me strengthen my heart, but this was REAL close. If I hadn't mentioned those two "shortness of breath" episodes, I may have died at any time, with no notice. Wish me luck!
UPDATED 12/25/2021
Yesterday (Tuesday, Dec. 21), I went to the VA Clinic, in Martinez, to get my NEW prescriptions, to help my heart, kidneys and diabetes, and made a point of visiting the Urgent Care facilities they have...and where I was sent, a week ago this past Monday, where they discovered my weakened heart, and THANKED each of those who actually saved my life that day, when they sent me (by ambulance) to John Muir Hospital in Concord. That act actually saved my life because it was at John Muir where I was given a "Life Vest" (new technology, I think) that is a battery-operated defibrillator that fits under my shirt and will deliver a shock if my heart stops. I have to wear it 24/7 except for my daily showers (and I have to restrict that to 10 minutes).
Please extend my thanks, again, to Daniel Davidson, Chris Ludwig, Taylor Deville, Kendall Martinez, Brian Mungee, and Eric R. Fields (Fields was the desk clerk at the entrance to Urgent Care and I’ve known him for years there) who actually got me right in to be seen. These people are HEROES to me and I owe them my life, 100%
Respectfully,
Mark D. Hutchings
Retired Fire Inspector/firefighter/Union President
Mare Island Naval Shipyard Fire Dept

12/31/2021

If you enjoy viewing this Mare Island Fire Dept and Museum site, please provide a positive review of this site when you have time. Thanks.

12/22/2021

11/23/2021

This was recently written by my friend, and fellow former MIHPF Board member, Tom Watson. It's important to READ this and help us tell the Vallejo City Council that they OWE it to the former employees of Mare Island Naval Shipyard to REPAIR bldg 46, home of the Mare Island Museum. THIS IS URGENT!!

John,
Tom Watson

The website for the Mare Island Museum says it is closed due to Covid-19, but the real reason is the Vallejo City Manager, and assistant has cited the Museum and Quarters "A" the Admiral’s Mansion for structural and accessibility as a means to deny former Federal Employees access to our heritage and a place to hold the 50th Reunion of the USS Guitarro on Sept. 9, 2022. We need everyone to contact the City of Vallejo to release funding for the necessary repairs and accessibility issues, NOW!
In the spring of 1996, the shipyard officially closed its doors, thus ending 142 years of United States Navy history. And though the naval shipyard is gone, Mare Island is not. The City of Vallejo, in conjunction with private developers, has exciting plans for the three-mile long island. Industrial, educational, recreational, residential and historical areas are all being planned for the "new" Mare Island which will evolve in the coming years.

Despite its change in use over the next few years, Mare Island will continue to serve Vallejo and the surrounding area in a variety of different ways. Time may pass but Mare Island will continue to remain in the memory of the hundreds of thousands that lived, served, and worked there. It will be remembered always as an important place in the history and defense of our nation.

“The Mission of the Mare Island Museum was to collect and preserve and interpret the history of the Mare Island Naval Shipyard and related entities and to present exhibits and programs that explore, educate and celebrate the diverse military and cultural aspects of the base.”

If the Museum closes forever, what will happen to all artifacts and donations from individuals that are not on the Official U.S. Navy list of historical items, that must be return to some obscure warehouse on the U.S Navy Yard in Washington D.C., and all the items for research in the library, and the gift shop such as T-shirts, mugs, magnets, Navy Memorabilia, and books relating to Mare Island Naval Shipyard?

[email protected].

[email protected]

11/17/2021

It is, with a great deal of sadness, that I learned (just yesterday) that the Mare Island Museum, in bldg 46 - the very first building to open on Mare Island in 1855, and designed by Daniel Turner (husband to Ana Key Turner, daughter of Francis Scott Key - yes, THAT Francis Scott Key) will not reopen in that location thanks to the City of Vallejo not maintaining that building (our Museum has never generated enough money to repair the building after the earthquake in 2014)..just as they allowed the Mare Island Cemetery to deteriorate so much that the Veterans Administration took it over after over 20+ years in Vallejo's hands. It's on the National and State Registries of Historic Places (as are many other buildings on the former base), which means that Vallejo can't demolish it and MUST maintain it...even though they haven't. I even donated over $8,000.00 for the maintenence over the years I was on the Board of Directors. One of the costs Vallejo is facing it to return artifacts, on LOAN to the Museum from the Navy, MUST be returned to the Navy and the shipping costs (including HUGE insurance costs) will have to be paid BY Vallejo to send them back to the East Coast!) Vallejo OWES it to the families that are related to employees that worked there over 142 years. It's a total DISGRACE that they forced the closure this year. WRITE the City Council and express your disgust with this situation, and get your friends and relatives to write as well! https://www.cityofvallejo.net/contact_us. It is IMPERATIVE that we let the Vallejo City Mayor and City Council KNOW this this is unacceptable! Let me know you wrote when you respond to this! If we can't use the funds to stay in bldg 46, we'll use the fund to find a NEW location for the Museum on Mare Island and to modify the new location to suit the needs of the Museum. The funds will be used for the purposes specified here unless otherwise noted here. HELP us stay in Bldg 46!

Please note that inquiries submitted through this page are not monitored 24/7. We aim to respond to all inquires within 48 hours.

11/15/2021

One of the strangest things to happen to me, while a Fire Inspector at Mare Island, was my meeting Bud Miller (the MIFD Fire Chief just before Ribeiro became our Fire Chief) in 1981). I hadn't met him until I was getting gas at a gas station near Vallejo High, when a man walked up to me and, because of my uniform, he knew I worked at Mare Island. He introduced himself and, without warning, told me that the WORST mistake he made was to make Ribeiro his replacement. I had been employed there for just months when I met Bud and eventually realized, for myself, why Bud had said that to me.

I have to add, here, that in June of 1984 I was interviewed for promotion to Chief Fire Inspector after our previous Chief Inspector stepped down due to the actions of our Fire Chief and Inspector Paul Comeaux. I was made the acting Chief Fire Inspector during the period between Bert's departure and Paul's promotion..so I seriously thought I had a great chance at becoming the permanent Chief Inspector, but my Dad had just died a month earlier from a brain hemorrhage he suffered while with his girlfriend. He had been seeing her for 5 years while still married and living with my Mother and NONE of us knew about his affair until I met her at the Catholic Hospital, in Carmichael, where he had been taken. I did all I could to keep this from my Mother and sister and my mind was just scrambled during that Oral Board. Ralph Petty (my friend and fellow fire inspector) also met with the Oral Board and, when I got back to the office I hit the books looking for the answers to the questions we were asked. Then Paul Comeaux came in asked what I was doing and he picked up a book and, on just two pages, there were ALL the answers to the questions. Paul wasn't exactly the "smartest" inspector in our office and actually when I asked him how he knew the answers, he replied that the Fire Chief had given him the answers...and Ralph also heard him say that. I tried to keep up my interest in being a Fire Inspector and even took "Occupational Work Experience" at Solano Jr. College. Paul had to sign off my weekly work record and my midterm and final (I took 4 elements from my MIFD performance appraisal for my mid-term and final) and, on EVERY one that Paul signed he gave me "Outstanding". Then, just two days after I completed that course, Paul FAILED me on my Performance Appraisal on the same elements where he gave me "Outstanding" for my college course. I went in to talk to the Fire Chief to address my Performance Appraisal and he told me that he backed Comeaux's failing me. I immediately took two hours leave and got copies of my grades from Solano College, from Paul, for my class. I made 3 copies and left one on the Fire Chief's desk (he and Paul were at lunch) and put a note on it that I was either an OUTSTANDING on my performance appraisal or I would take a copy to the Naval Station Commanding Officer (we were under his command at that time) and one to the Shipyard Commander. Ribeiro agreed to the outstanding on my appraisal and asked if I wanted anything more. I immediately said that I wanted transfer to firefighter as I didn't trust either of them not to try this again and, 4 days later, I was a firefighter at South Fire Station and, six months later I was elected to my first term as our Union President (I served 5 two-year terms as our President). Needless to say, I made a point of fighting the Fire Chief whenever he tried to pull nonsense on ANY of our members for the next 10 years, when I transferred due to base closure. At times he and I worked well together, but that wasn't all that often, even during the Base Closer process. One last note here: After Mare Island was closed, we've held reunions every other year on Ron Smith's vineyard in Napa (he was the Union President before me) and our former Fire Chief NEVER attended. I even went to the Benicia Catholic Cemetery where he worked after retiring and spent an hour trying to get him to come but he never did. And I think he knew how most of us weren't happy with him and his time as our Fire Chief. All in all, it was still the best place I ever worked and it was all due to the firefighters I worked with while there and their trust in me when I was elected President of our Union Local. I'm posting this so others that worked with me as a member of the Mare Island Fire Department understand my anger at what the Fire Chief allowed to happen to Ralph and myself by rigging that Oral Board. Even DeWayne Miller (one of our Assistant Fire Chiefs and was on that Board) admitted to me that he knew that Paul had been given the answers at the time of the Oral Board..but there wasn't much he could do as the Fire Chief had sabotaged Bert's time as our Chief Inspector...to the point that Bert stepped back to Firefighter a year before I did..and with GOOD reason. Bert was one of the best Chief Inspectors I ever worked for and it was a travesty that he had to step down...just as I had to.