FIRE CHIEF MIKE O'CONNOR

On January 3rd, 2012,  Fire Chief Michael O’Connor of the North Shelby County Fire and Emergency Medical District. passed away at Brookwood Hospital in Birmingham, Alabama, from complications of an unexpected illness.

Chief O’Connor had over 33 years in the fire service with North Shelby Fire and Emergency Medical District and the former Bluff Park Fire District.  He will be deeply missed.

Michael leaves behind his wife, Nelle O’Connor and daughter Laura.

Chief O’Connor joined the North Shelby County Fire and Emergency Medical District in 1982 as a Firefighter/Paramedic and progressed through the promotional process to the rank of Fire Chief in 1995. He leaves behind a fire department that valued his services and he will be sorely missed.

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Chief Winston M. Boutwell
Chief Winston M. Boutwell, the first Fire Chief of the North Shelby County Fire and Emergency Medical District from 1978 to 1995, passed away in his sleep on July 30, 2011,  after a long battle with cancer.

Chief Boutwell rose up through the ranks of the Pritchard Fire Department from firefighter to Fire Chief,
becoming Fire Chief in 1965. He was recruited to North Shelby when the fire district was first started in 1978. Chief Boutwell oversaw an expansion of the fire district to its current three fire stations, purchasing the apparatus for those stations, and hiring and staffing. He leaves behind a fire department that valued his services and he will be sorely missed. Chief Boutwell is survived by his wife Bobbi, son Bert , Daughter Sue, and an entire fire department extended family.