New Albany honors retiring fire chief Steve Coker for outstanding service

A steady stream of people came to New Albany Fire Station #1 Tuesday afternoon to wish retiring Fire Chief Steve Coker well and show appreciation for his years of outstanding service.

“We’re going to miss him a lot, probably more than he knows,” Mayor Tim Kent said.

Coker announced his retirement earlier this year due to health reasons after nearly 30 years as a firefighter.

“It’s been a great job,” Coker said. “I miss it every day. I’ve had great mayors, great boards, a great city and a great county.”

“It’s been a great ride, but you can only do so much,” he continued.

Coker was formally hired as chief in May 2011.

He had served as deputy tax assessor for Union County since 1995 but been a member of the East Union Volunteer Fire Department since 1992. He served as chief at East Union for 11 years, during which time the fire rating improved from a Class 10 to a Class 8.

Coker also had served as Union County Fire Coordinator since 2008. He resigned from that position in February this year but hoped to remain as city chief. He later said that remaining as chief would be impractical considering his health situation and treatment schedule.

Mayor Kent said at the time of Coker’s hiring: “We just felt that, at this time, he was the right person to lead our department. He is very familiar with the grant-writing process, is very people-oriented and comes with a lot of experience and high praise.”

Coker has also been active in firefighting on a statewide basis, serving as Northeast Vice-President of the Mississippi Fire Chief’s Association, and in line for the presidency.

In fact, Tuesday’s reception was attended by firefighters and others in the industry from various cities outside Union County. Acting Chief Mark Whiteside said that chiefs from as far away as the Gulf Coast had planned to come when the event was scheduled for earlier in the year but could not come Tuesday because of dealing with weather-related events at home.

Captain Mark Sides spoke on behalf of the current New Albany firefighters saying, “You will never know what you have meant to this department, or what you have meant to me.”

Acting Chief Whiteside spoke about Coker at length and here are some of his comments:

“Working with Steve was a pleasure,” Whiteside said. “We spent many days and evenings planning and looking ahead. Steve did not want to just look at today, he was looking ahead to the future for the young people that would take over when we left.

“Under his leadership we have become a very admired and respected department. If I had to say I learned one thing from Steve it would be budgeting. What he taught me about budgeting you could never put a price on. Although he is not in the office with me anymore, I am glad he can still see the plans and goals are still on track, being worked on and becoming a reality.

“He was more than my Chief. He was a friend from the early 90s when we fought fires together in the county. We would go to statewide conferences, learn, talk, solve every problem in the world, and look for ways to make the New Albany Fire Department a better place. We would always talk about the day it would be time to leave it, move on and give it to the younger people but we never dreamed it would be this soon.

“In the future, after a lot of us are no longer here, he will be talked about for what he did for New Albany.

The fire department is one big family. Every three days the crews were together 24 hours. They spend a third of this lives in the fire house. We became a part of their family and Steve always made sure the people were cared for.

“He is dependable, intelligent, caring, thoughtful, a true leader. He gives credit to each and every person on the department along with the mayor and board for their part in it.”

Coker was presented with his mounted helmet, fire axe and other memorabilia, some of it handcrafted by firefighters. Mayor Kent also presented him with a commendation from U. S. Rep. Trent Kelly that was placed in the Congressional Record thanking him for his lifelong devotion to fire safety and helping make Mississippi a better place to live.

Coker said he has been farming some and hopes to be able to answer fire calls later as a volunteer.