Skip Coleman, Longtime Fire Instructor and Advisor, Passes Away

John Skip Coleman

The staff of Fire Engineering and FDIC International notes the passing of longtime technical editor and advisor John “Skip” Coleman.

Skip retired as assistant chief from the Toledo (OH) Department of Fire and Rescue in 2008 after 32 years. He served as deputy chief to every major bureau in the department.

He was a columnist and technical editor of Fire Engineering; a member of the FDIC Educational Advisory Board; and the author of Incident Management for the Street-Smart Fire Officer (Fire Engineering, 1997), Managing Major Fires (Fire Engineering, 2000), and Incident Management for the Street-Smart Fire Officer, Second Edition (Fire Engineering, 2008).  He was the 2011 recipient of Fire Engineering’s Tom Brennan Lifetime Achievement Award.

Skip taught at FDIC for the last 15 years and instructed across the United States and Canada since 1997. He was an Executive Fire Officer Program graduate, taught college-level classes at one of Ohio’s largest community colleges for more than 10 years, and additionally taught several courses at the National Fire Academy.

“Skip Coleman was a dedicated and decorated firefighter. A leader in many of the modern-day advances and most notably in the area of rapid intervention,” said Bobby Halton, Fire Engineering Editor in Chief and FDIC Educational Director. “Skip’s work on managing the Mayday were sentinel pieces for today’s modern fire service and how we respond when firefighters’ lives are endangered. The fire service will be forever indebted for his groundbreaking work and his and endless devotion to our craft, his community, and most importantly, his family.”

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