Mapleton fire chief retiring
Ron Whiting, the former Fire Chief of the Mapleton Fire Department, retired after having served the department for 18 years. He posed for a portrait in the garage of the new Mapleton Fire Station on Friday, August 10, 2012. JIM MCAULEY/Daily Herald
Ron Whiting, the former Fire Chief of the Mapleton Fire Department, retired after having served the department for 18 years. He posed for a portrait in the garage of the new Mapleton Fire Station on Friday, August 10, 2012. JIM MCAULEY/Daily Herald
MAPLETON — After serving 18 years as a volunteer firefighter for the Mapleton Fire Department, including two years as fire chief, Ron Whiting is hanging up his uniform and moving on. Whiting and his wife Becky are selling their home in Mapleton to build a new home in Santaquin, but Whiting says one of the hardest parts about moving on is leaving his friends at the station.
“It is a great bunch of guys there and it is really hard to leave,” he said, fighting back tears. “As we talk about it I still choke up, because when you spend that much time with them, they are like family.”
And the men he is leaving behind, including fire chief Ryan Withers, said Whiting is leaving a team he helped to unite.
“He inspired you to want to be better,” Withers said. “He was always good under pressure and he knew how to handle tough situations. He was a good example that way.”
Although a carpenter by trade, Whiting didn’t realize his real passion for fighting fires until he moved to Mapleton in 1995. One day while working on his home, he heard a siren go off, and then watched as his neighbor, a volunteer firefighter, jumped into his car and dashed off to the fire station to answer the call. That night he asked his neighbor if he could join, and his neighbor said “sure” and gave him a pager. That night the pager went off, and Whiting went out to fight his first fire at the nearby railroad tracks.
“It was pretty exciting, and from that point on, it was such an adrenaline rush to have that pager go off in the middle of the night and then rush to the station,” Whiting said. “I still have that. I always thought I would lose that, that I’d quit, but I never did.”
Even as a volunteer, Whiting earned his fire certification. He said even though the department is made up entirely of volunteers, firefighters are required to become certified as well as train twice a month.
And even among his immediate family, Whiting has left a legacy of volunteer firefighting. Both his son and son-in-law are members of the fire department and both will stay on.
“I guess you can say this is becoming a pretty good family tradition,” Whiting said. “There is a passion for it there; it runs pretty deep within the family.”
Even his wife has done her part over the years to show support for the station. When Whiting took on the position as fire chief, his wife accepted the position as president of the Women’s Annex for the fire department.
During the day, Whiting works at Utah Valley University as a project manager, as well as an assistant fire marshal for the university. He will continue with this work, despite moving to Santaquin.
“Got to keep my foot in the fire door some way,” Whiting said with a laugh.
