John F. "Skip" Coleman

1950 - 2022

News story
By Mark Zaborney
Blade Staff Writer

John F. "Skip" Coleman, a retired Toledo assistant fire chief who followed his father into the fire service and became known nationally as an expert in firefighting practice and safety, died July 14 at home in South Lebanon, Ohio. He was 71.

He had interstitial lung disease, said his wife, Theresa Coleman.

He had retired Jan. 17, 2008, and the couple moved from Springfield Township to southwest Ohio.

Chief Coleman was technical editor and adviser to the publication Fire Engineering and had been an instructor since the late 1990s at Fire Department Instructor Conference events across the United States and Canada. He was author of the Fire Engineering-published texts Managing Major Fires and Incident Management for the Street-Smart Fire Officer.

"Skip Coleman was a dedicated and decorated firefighter. A leader in many of the modern-day advances and most notably in the area of rapid intervention," wrote Bobby Halton, Fire Engineering editor-in-chief and educational director of FDIC, in an online announcement of Chief Coleman's death. "The fire service will be forever indebted for his groundbreaking work and his… endless devotion to our craft, his community, and most importantly, his family."

Toledo Fire Chief Allison Armstrong wrote on social media, "He was a progressive leader who dedicated his life to bettering the fire service. He will be missed."

He was recipient of the 1998 Fire Engineering Lifetime Achievement Award and of the 2011 Tom Brennan Lifetime Achievement award, named for a fire service veteran and former Fire Engineering editor.

Chief Coleman also taught for years in the fire science program at Owens Community College.

"He never trained on something he didn't do first," said Joe Walter, a former Toledo assistant fire chief and a former city safety director. "A super good guy and very innovative."

He joined the Toledo fire division, as it was then known, in 1975 and was promoted to lieutenant in 1979 and captain in 1984. When promoted in 1987 to district chief – a position that later became battalion chief – he moved into a rank his father, Chester Coleman, previously held. It was believed to be the first time in fire division records that a father and son reached the rank of chief, then-Deputy Chief Robert Schwanzl told The Blade.

He had previously been a Toledo Edison meter reader and a clerk for Hudson's department store at Franklin Park Mall.

"We heard fire department all the time at our house," the younger Chief Coleman told The Blade in 1987. "I sometimes dropped into my father's fire station, I went to departmental softball games with him, and I often played with other kids whose fathers were firemen. I guess I was destined to be a fireman."

He became a deputy chief in 1998, serving in every major bureau, and assistant chief July 19, 2007.

"He was really driven," Mr. Walter said.

He focused on firefighter safety from early in his tenure as a chief. He wrote a policy mandating that firefighters wear self-contained breathing apparatus when entering areas that had or could have smoke. He was assigned in 1988 by then-Chief William Winkle to devise an incident command policy, which Toledo then lacked.

There was resistance in part from the shift deputy chiefs who outranked him, Chief Coleman told Fire Engineering in 2011.

"They were not happy to have a new chief with 13 years on the job telling them how to run their fires," Chief Coleman said. "Patience and the pension system prevailed, and it became the norm a few strenuous years later."

He said that the system had a positive impact on safety and organization at all fires and incidents.

As deputy chief of operations, he put in place a Code Red policy in which the locations of buildings deemed unsound were put into the computer-aided dispatching system. Fire crews were not allowed to enter such buildings except if victims were seen or heard inside.

"It saved lives. It still does," said Mike Wolever, Toledo's fire chief from 2007 to 2011. "He was a bulldog. When he got a job, he did not stop. There are a handful of firefighters in my career who had safety first and foremost in their mind. Most of them were in positions to make change, and Skip was a heck of a change agent. Pretty impressive, actually."

Mr. Walter said: "Efficiency and safety are the two things he always worked on."

Chief Coleman and Chief Wolever got to know each other well in 1984, when they worked in the fire training bureau.

"He was a natural instructor. I don't say that lightly," Chief Wolever said. "He could get a point across as well as anyone I've ever seen teach."

When he, Chief Wolever, and Mr. Walter were battalion chiefs in different sectors of the city, they met most weekends for breakfast to talk over what went on during the week.

"He was a lot of fun and always had a good quip about one thing or the other," Mr. Walter said.

Chief Wolever said: "Any of the serious firefighters who took the job seriously loved him, because he took the job seriously. It was all about getting the job done and having fun."

Off-duty time was family time.

"We have two children, and they were everything to him," Mrs. Coleman said.

He became a skilled home cook, specializing in Mexican and Italian dishes.

"He loved to make meals for me," Mrs. Coleman said. "We'd have happy hour outside, just sit out on the screened-in porch and talk and have drinks and wonderful meals."

Born July 30, 1950, to Elizabeth and Chester Coleman, he was a graduate of Bowsher High School, where he played football.

Surviving are his wife, the former Theresa Swain, whom he married Feb. 15, 1980; son, Toby Coleman; daughter, Fay Silverman; brother, Kevin Coleman, and four grandchildren.

A Last Alarm Service will begin at 6 p.m. Wednesday at Heather Downs Country Club, with a celebration of life event to follow until 8 p.m.

The family suggests tributes to the Toledo Firefighters' Museum.