FIRE CHIEF OF ODESSA TOOK "TEMPORARY" JOB
Odessa American 1958    

Temporary is a word that has an expansive meaning for Fire Chief Charlie Meadows. And there is good reason. Meadows, a cheerful man who has worked for the City of Odessa for 18 years, recalls with a smile that day back in 1943 when he got a "temporary" job.
      "It will only be for about two weeks," the late Mayor A. J. Burks told Meadows, then an employee of the city's water department. "That was back in January of 1943," Meadows recalls, "and they just wanted me to take over the fire department until they got someone else,"  "They may still be looking for someone else," Meadows, who today heads a fire department which has grown like a runner of ivy.
      But things that have happened since Meadows took that "temporary" job would indicate no one was looking. During Meadows tenure as Fire Chief, the department has grown from a one-man, one-truck brigade to an 80 man, 12-truck unit which has spread out to cover the entire city. A native of San Angelo who came to Odessa at the age of three, Meadows never intended to be a firefighter, much less the head of the fire department which operates on a $426,024 yearly budget.
      Circumstances just put him there!
      Meadows, after graduating from high school here, spent short tours as a truck driver, a hardware store clerk, and an excavation man for Ector County. Then in 1937 he joined the city. "They didn't have a lot of work or men then, and they just shifted you around," Meadows recalls. Starting out chopping weeds for 40 cents an hour with the engineering department. Meadows then went to the street department and then to the water department. While in the water department, Meadows had his first contact with firefighting. "The fire department then was just a four-man department with about 18 volunteer firefighters," he said, "and when one of the four men went on vacation they asked me to fill in." Then he got that two week "temporary" job.
      When Meadows took over the department at 26, one of the youngest chiefs in nation and there was only one other man working... and he quit during the first week. "We had two trucks then," Meadows smiled. "and one of them wouldn't run." The fire department then was housed in the rear of the city hall at Fourth & Lee, which also served as a Police station.
      "That other truck was just barely running too." Meadows said recalling his early problems.  "We started out to a fire one day, and it just quit," A pick-up, equipped with two fire extinguishers was used to quell the small car fire.
      This was one of the reasons Meadows didn't want the job then. "But I wouldn't take anything in the world for it now," Meadows said.
      Realizing he might be in the job for a while Meadows took steps to gain more equipment. Junking one of the trucks for $25 dollars, Meadows stripped equipment off of it, ordered a regular hauling truck, and built a fire truck. "You couldn't buy a fire truck then because of the war," he said. The remaining truck No 4 was repaired. In 1945, "the town was growing too much" (It had a population of about 12,000 then) and Meadows went to the City Council and ended the voluntary fire department. He added eight more men to the department, bringing total employees to 12. That was the beginning of a big growth. Since then a Central Fire Station and 4 substations have been erected.
      For a man who had no inclinations to be a fireman, Meadows has set some sort of record for himself and for the department. The department last year was named as one of the top three fire departments in the nation by the National Fire Underwriters for the low $100 dollar loss per call average. The national business district loss per call average was $300. And the City's fire insurance rate based on the departments adequacy and amount of loss has been cut sharply. When Meadows took over, the key rate - a determining factor in what citizens pay for fire insurance - was 38 cents on each $100 dollars. One of the lowest rates in Texas.
      Firefighting research, started on a small scale by Meadows, will bring the departments national recognition this year. Small scale research blossomed into the "Fire Research and Development Center" - a full scale fire test program. And the center will be featured in a national fire magazine this year.
      For Meadows, who lives at 1306 Laurel with his wife, Beth, and their 12 year old son Jim, his work has brought him personal acclaim. In 1956 he was listed in Who's Who in the South and Southwest. Meadows' leadership in firefighting circles will be peaked in September when he will be installed as president of the Southwestern Association of Fire Chief's. An instructor at the Firemen's Training School at Texas A & M for 10 years, Meadows is past president of the Permian Basin Fireman's Association, past state vice-president of the International Fire Chief's Association, and past vice president of the Southwestern Association of Fire Chief's
      Continuing his "temporary" job, Meadows today is looking forward to further growth of his department and a proposed substation at 27th and Grandview.