Born and raised in San Diego, California, Richard Yokley joined the ranks of the Bonita-Sunnyside Fire Department (near San Diego) in 1972. He became an Emergency Medical Technician (EMT) that first year and soon became the department’s historian. Progressing through the ranks he became the departments Public Information Officer and fire marshal and then rose to the rank of Operations Chief. Richard retired in December 1999 after almost 28 years of service. As a firefighter/EMT, Richard worked along side one of the first paramedic ambulances in San Diego Country (which began service in March 1977), LifeSaver 1, operating out of Bay General Hospital in Chula Vista (now Scripps Memorial Hospital). During his off time he also worked for Pacific Ambulance (mid 1970s), for Hartson’s Ambulance service as an EMT-D/C (1978-1980), and in Bay General Memorial Hospital’s emergency department as an emergency room technician (1980-1983). Richard is the author of The History of Fire Protection in Sweetwater Valley (an unpublished document), a 50-year history of the Bonita-Sunnyside Fire Department, and TV Firefighters, published in 2003. He has written many articles for newspapers and contributed to trade journals such as JEMS, Firehouse, California Service (CSFA), London Firefighter, and Fire International. He received Firehouse magazine’s Heroism & Community Service Award in 1987. Along with several other community awards, he was also awarded his fire department’s only Exemplary Service Award. Richard studied in England at the Fire Service College at Moretonin-Marsh and went through training at the London Fire Brigade Training Academy at Southwark, where he also was able to spend some time on the fireboat London Phoenix. In 2004 he was awarded the Friends of the Society certificate from Britain’s Royal Life Saving Society. He also spent some time with fire departments in Helsinki, Finland; St. Petersburg, Russia (as Leningrad in the Soviet Union at the time of visit); Dublin and Waterford, Ireland; Edinburgh, Scotland; Paris, France; and Vienna, Austria. Richard is a California state- certified fire officer, fire instructor, and fire investigator. Richard has an AS degree in fire science with a minor in radio and television broadcasting. Of the many offices held and committees served on over the years, Richard considers his appointment to the Emergency Medical Care Committee for the County of San Diego among the most rewarding. Representing 1st District Supervisor Greg Cox, Richard served from 2001 from 2004. In 2004, after spending 7 years at SeaWorld San Diego (where he received the SeaWorld Excellence Award in 2000) in the medical services and aviculture departments, he and his wife moved to Tucson, Arizona, in retirement. He now volunteers at the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum in the mammalogy and ornithology department as a keeper’s assistant. Richard continues his research for a second edition of TV Firefighers.
