Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Norton to hang up ‘turn out gear’
LINCOLN — The ever present smile on Jay Norton’s face sags just a little when talk turns to retiring from the fire service.
Pausing to catch his breath from his talk about recent additions to the Fire Department, Norton lets out a little, subtle sigh, saying: “I am retiring, stepping back, if you will, starting January 1st.”
Norton is retiring after 43 years in fire service.
Turning 65, Norton, who began his fire service career as a volunteer on the Morrow Fire Department in 1973, says, “It is time.”
“I know it is time before I get hurt or hurt someone else (unintentionally),” he said. “After 43 years, well it’s time.”
He is still busy, even on this cold winter’s day, taking phone calls, paying bills and managing the fire department.
Hanging on his wall, facing his desk, is a woven tapestry of a lap blanket size that offers a little known version of a “Fireman’s Prayer.” In the final verses, these words are written:
“I want to fulfill my calling to give the best in me to guard my every neighbor and protect his property.”
Also on Norton’s cabinetry hangs some computer generated sayings for inspiration and perhaps warnings for others about late paperwork.
“The Gospel is only good news, if it gets there in time.”
The tall, stocky fireman, long since surrendering his shock of red hair to baldness, is still fit and able as a fireman and all the physical requirements of the job – but age has told him it is time to move on.
He seems as at home in the office, the truck bays and shops of the modern fire house, as he does on the business end of the hose on a roll out to a fire.
Norton will relinquish his position of Lincoln fire administrator to take on some part-time training of his replacement and focus more on three family farms and a pair of family businesses of the Norton clan in and around the Lincoln area.
Sitting in his unique office filled with training manuals, grant notebooks, all kinds of equipment catalogues, a computer and a plethora of radio communications devices, Norton’s clean desk looks like one of a Fortune 500 executive. It is a style few can emulate, but it is the Norton way, some within the department say.
As a 17-year old rookie with the Morrow Department, Norton recalls little about his first fire-fighting call.
“Lester Smith was my Chief at Morrow Fire Department when I first started. My dad, Jack (Norton) succeeded him afterwards,” said Norton.
He remembers there was but one old, and much wornout U.S. Forest Service castoff truck for the Morrow department.
“Even with the men working on it all the time, sometimes that truck was hard to start and get going on a call,” Norton says with a laugh.
He soon transitioned to the nearby Lincoln Fire Department and vividly recalls a clearer day, a watershed event that began the start of real trained, professional firefighting, if you will, in rural Western Washington County.
“I’ll tell you there was a house fire — what we refer to as simply a chimney fire today — at a very nice house out in the Summers and state line area,” Norton said. “We had help from the Westville (Okla.) Fire Department and we just poured and poured water on that fire and lo, and behold, we just burned that house to the ground with our ineffective firefighting practices and training,” he said.
“After that fire and feeling so bad about what we could have done – some decisions were made to start real firefighting training and purchase better equipment – and that began to turn the department and real firefighting around in this part of Washington County,” Norton said.
Norton credits the Herculean leadership of two men for the transition of leadership into professional firefighting in Western Washington County – Lloyd Wayne Luginbuel and Henson Tittle.
Both men were mentors, very close personal friends and fellow firemen in the four decades-plus journey of Norton.
“Henson’s leadership as well as Lloyd Wayne’s in the early days is the reason the fire service is what it is today out in West Washington County,” Norton said.
He also gives credit to the four fire chiefs he has served – Tittle, Dennis Speer, Charlie Lewis and current chief Willie Leming. Norton said these chiefs have guided the department with expert leadership on his watch as fire administrator. Norton has held the full-time position of fire administrator for about 15 years, since 2005.
Norton prefers to talk about procedures, equipment, training and local protocols in place to make fighting fires safe, more efficient in saving property and resources. He’s quick to say the area served by the Lincoln department is some 99 square miles, ranging all over western Washington County.
Getting the calls, even back in the early days, was easy, but different.
Firemen here got a break on response times, thanks to the Prairie Grove Telephone Company, back in the late 1960s when the company installed what was then a pretty sophisticated fire phone system, Norton said.
“When a citizen dialed the local fire departments, it was a continuous ring, not a real telephone ring on all firefighter’s home telephones and some work phones. All the firemen (all volunteers) picked up the telephone and heard who was calling and where the fire was (and how to get there). You just stayed on the line until you knew where you were going and got either to fire or to the department as quickly as you could,” Norton said.
Then along came pagers, beepers, and then today’s cell phones, with text messages, and other electronic gadgets, such as address locators, that today get firemen where they need to be.
As the conversations about innovations continue, Norton paused at the “loss of life” question during his 43 years in fire service.
“There have been two deaths due to fires,” Norton said solemnly. “A younger man in one blaze and an elderly woman a couple of years later.”
Acknowledging those statistics spread over a 43-year legacy are low and rare, Norton is proud to relate another important statistic of the department.
“We’ve never lost a fireman during my time here,” he said. “And I hope that never happens, but we know it does happen – fighting fires is dangerous.”
Speaking about big fires – Norton recalls the LATCO fire, and some big fires out at Cal Maine. The department also has assisted with big fires of the business section of nearby Westville, Okla., over the years.
Norton praised the early formation of an organized fire district association in 1967 as a forerunner of today’s Lincoln Fire Department and area fire departments, both rural and in nearby cities.
“We have a great working relationship with Farmington, Prairie Grove, Morrow, and of course, Cincinnati,” he said.
Recently, firefighters, despite the covid-19 pandemic, surprised Norton with a retirement party. He was given a plaque with a fire axe and medallion medals affixed to the one-of-a-kind award.
In retirement, Norton plans to spend more time with family, his wife Sandy, his grown son Jason and adult daughter Julie and of course his two strapping, active grandsons, ages 15 and 8. Norton also vows to all who will listen: “I’ll not be sitting down, no sir, I’ll still be around, working and enjoying life here in Lincoln.”
His turnout gear may still be nearby and gathering dust, but always ready to “guard my every neighbor and protect his property.”