Coming to Stillwater in 1931 as fire chief, John Raymond “J. Ray” Pence would develop a fire training program that became second to none. A&M students took first aid, rescue and salvage courses, and slept in the fire station at night. By 1937, President Henry Bennett gave Pence funding for a full-fledged program and the Department of Firemanship Training got its start. By the time he died in 1945, Pence had helped A&M win its reputation as the “West Point of the Fire Service.” Fire Service Training was the first formal outreach and Extension unit in the School of Engineering.
