Fire Marshal William Loesche inducted into Arizona Fire Service Hall of Fame

Fire Marshal William R. Loesche of the Golder Ranch Fire District, in the greater Tucson Arizona area, was recently inducted into the Arizona Fire Service Hall of Fame, which recognizes individuals who have made a significant, positive contribution to the fire service and community. Individuals nominated are evaluated based on their years of service, service on committees, state or national impact, educational impact, operational impact, contributions to the community, organizational impact, legislative impact or other areas that clearly demonstrate the individual’s significant contribution to Arizona’s fire service.

It was through Loesche’s educational impact as an instructor at Yavapai College and Coconino Community College, the annual Arizona Fire School, and the Arizona Wildfire Incident Management Academy that he was honored with this prestigious recognition. He has taught fire science courses in community college for more than 20 years, holds a special teaching certificate and is certified as a Fire Service Instructor level II in Arizona.

Additionally, his participation on the Arizona Fire Code Committee and with the Arizona Fire Marshals Association and Fire Marshals Association of North America has resulted in many fire code changes and legislative updates concerning the state of Arizona Fire Code. He was president of the Arizona Chapter of the Fire Marshals Association of North America and the Arizona Chapter of the International Association of Arson Investigators. He has served on many committees, including the Arizona Chapter of the International Association of Arson Investigators training committee, the State Fire Training Committee and the legislative committee for the Arizona Fire Districts Association.

As a certified fire and explosion investigator through the National Association of Fire Investigators, a wildfire investigator through the National Wildfire Coordinating Group and a member of the International Association of Arson Investigators he has instructed many fire investigation courses and has testified as an expert witness in court in the prosecution of arson for many cases. He is routinely called out for fire investigations, including those involving wildland fires, through the State Forester.

As the manager of the Fire and Life Safety Division of the Golder Ranch Fire District — overseeing the activities of fire inspection, fire code enforcement, construction plan review, public education and fire investigation — he has achieved one of the highest scores from the Insurance Services Office Fire Suppression Rating Schedule nationwide. This score has a positive impact on homeowner’s insurance rates for the communities within the fire district.

Prior to his time at Golder Ranch Fire District, he served as the fire marshal for the Sedona Fire District in Arizona, as an assistant and deputy state fire marshal for the Arizona Fire Marshal Office, and as a fire inspector for the Norwalk Fire Department in Connecticut. His fire service career spans more than 46 years.

Loesche joins a very distinguished group of fire leaders who have served Arizona and received this honor. His Hall of Fame plaque can be found at the National Historical Fire Foundation — better known as the Hall of Flame Museum of Firefighting — in Phoenix, Arizona. The museum is dedicated to the historical preservation of firefighting equipment used throughout the years around the world. The museum’s artifacts were originally the private collection of George F. Getz Jr., who opened the original Hall of Flame in Wisconsin in 1961. The collection relocated to Phoenix in 1974 and has since grown into the world’s largest historical firefighting museum, with five large exhibit galleries and the National Firefighting Hall of Heroes that commemorates U.S. firefighters who have died in the line of duty or have been decorated for acts of heroism.