We knew Mike Tyler, we just didn't know him as well as most people in the Appleton community and throughout the fire departments that stretch across this county.
Tyler, 67, died Oct. 20. He had served as the chief of the Appleton Volunteer Fire Department for 20 years. He's been credited for taking that department to new levels with additional substations and another in the works.
As we talked to other fire chiefs around the county, we learned that Tyler not only took Appleton to a new level in fire protection, he helped most all of the other volunteer fire departments get to a new level as well.
Over the past week or so we have taken photographs of fire departments going to the schools as part of Fire Prevention Week. We listened closely at Pollard-McCall Jr. High School as Chief Charles Jackson explained the dos and don'ts in the event of a house fire. He also led the students out of a smoke-filled environment – an environment they will likely see if their house catches on fire.
What we learned this week about Tyler is that he loved to train other firemen on the dos and don'ts of fighting fires. Teaching and training was his passion. He did so because he knew the importance of firemen being properly trained. It was not only for the firemen's safety but for the safety of the people they were trying to rescue from a burning home.
Too often we take our volunteer fire departments for granted. We don't see the behind-the-scene training they receive from everything from using the jaws of life, to entering burning buildings and providing emergency medical care.
Those are the things that not only protect our first responders, they give those first responders the tools to help the people in their communities.
We lost a true hero in Mike Tyler but his legacy will live on with the job he's done over the years to keep us all safe.
