On April 1st, 1962, W. J. "Bill" Childress was appointed to the position of Fire Chief by the Odessa City Council after being recommended for the position by the City Manager W. E. Routh.
 
    Bill Childress joined the department as a firefighter on May 5th, 1949. He was promoted to the rank of Captain in September 1950. During October of 1956 Childress was promoted to Assistant Chief which is known today as Battalion Chief. Then in November 1958, Childress was promoted to Deputy Chief, which today is known as Assistant Chief.
 
    He was born in Rankin and moved to Alpine while he was a boy. He attended Alpine schools and one year at Sul Ross State Teachers College prior to joining the U.S. Navy in World War II. He served with the Navy in the Pacific Theater from 1944 until 1946 when he returned to Sul Ross.

     At the time Childress joined the department there were only three stations, with a fourth under construction. By the time Childress took over the Fire Department in 1962, the department was beginning to feel the heat of more and more fires, for the department was now making over a thousand call per year. It was now clear to the firefighters that as the city of Odessa grew so would the Fire Department and the amount of fires, and of course fire deaths. The Fire Department strength by 1963 was 108  firefighters and 7 fire stations.

     Childress's starting salary as Fire Chief was $714 dollars per month. That is $105 dollars a month more than Fire Chief Charlie Meadows was getting paid when he resigned.

     During the Childress administration the Odessa Fire Department advanced great strides in the advancement of Emergency Services. Odessa was the first in the state to have the 911 Emergency Dialing System which began on April 1st, 1970. The First in the state to have a "Jaws of Life". The City did not purchase this valuable tool, but instead it was donated by Mr. & Mrs. Nojem Libson.  For detailed information on the "Jaws of Life", click on this link. Odessa was also the first in the state to have State Certified Ambulances. For detailed information on "Emergency Medical Services" Click on this link.