The Renton Regional Fire Authority recently announced the retirement of Fire Commissioner Myron Meikle from the Renton RFA Governance Board and the Fire District 25 Board of Commissioners. Meikle dedicated a total of 46 years to public service.

According to the Renton RFA, Meikle has been a fixture in the Fire District 25 community for decades and an “invaluable asset” to the governance board since the beginning of the organization.

“His contributions have been many and great, both here in Renton and beyond. It has been our honor to work with him and benefit from his meticulous nature, vast experience, and exceptional insights,” the Renton RFA said in a statement.

Meikle began his public service career in the United States Coast Guard in 1976. After leaving active duty, he joined the Seattle Fire Department and continued to serve his community. During that time, he pursued a specialization with the Hazardous Materials Response Team and earned his degree in business. Later, he used his experience and business acumen to join a team of firefighters in establishing a training agency that helped local and national government entities, as well as private industries, train for incidents in the areas of hazardous materials, technical rescue and scenario-based counter terrorism exercises. In 2014, he established his own organization helping Washington hospitals with emergency preparedness training.

Meikle is also a International Association of Firefighters (IAFF) Master Instructor and has served as a member of the Washington State Technical Advisory Group for Hazardous Materials.

He also served from 2004 to 2009 as a member of the FEMA PEP POD Program on Pod Support Team 3, which is one of nine deployable response teams throughout the United States responsible for delivering emergency equipment and technical expertise to disasters or terrorism events around the county.

Meikle was elected as a Fire District 25 Commissioner in 1998 and has served the community ever since.

“We are so happy to celebrate Myron, and his legacy of accomplishments, as he moves on to a new chapter. We sincerely thank him for his undeniable contributions to our organization and our community, and we wish him and his family all the best in the years to come,” said the Renton RFA in a statement.