NYSAFC Remembers Past President Walter R. Bell

Print this Article | Send to Colleague

NYSAFC mourns the loss of Past President Walter R. Bell, who led the association from 1973-1974. Bell, the association’s senior past president, passed away on September 30, 2012, at the age of 95.

Remembered as an innovator and recalled in newspaper accounts as "the father of the city’s modern-day fire department," under his leadership the New Rochelle Fire Department purchased new apparatus and developed procedures to greatly improve emergency services. A native of the city, he was well known throughout New Rochelle and Westchester County for his volunteer efforts with numerous civic and charitable organizations.

Bell was appointed to the New Rochelle Fire Department in 1940. He rose through the ranks and was appointed chief of the department on July 1, 1959, retiring as fire commissioner two decades later.

He joined NYSAFC in 1966 and served on the Annual Budget, Executive Director, Manual, Publications, and Membership Committees before joining the board of directors. After his term as president from 1973-1974, he continued to be actively involved with the association, most recently attending the Annual Conference in June of this year.

Bell was a member of the International Association of Fire Chiefs, served as chairman of the Westchester County Fire Advisory Board, was a past member of the Fire Safety Advisory Committee to the New York State Department of Health, and was appointed by Governor Nelson Rockefeller to the New York State Fire Safety Advisory Board in the early 1970s.

A pilot in the U.S. Army Air Force from 1943-1945 during World War II, Bell achieved the rank of lieutenant.