EUREKA, MO (KTVI) – The Eureka Fire Department is looking to fill some very big shoes after Battalion Chief Joe Trower retired Thursday after 44 years in the department.
At the end of his last shift before sunrise, Trower was given a chauffeured ride home in a fire truck.
Trower started with the Eureka Fire Department in 1972 when he was just 17 years-old. An invitation from a firefighter to join the junior fire program led to his 44 year career.
He’s done nearly everything there is to do in firefighting and touched many lives in the process.
“I’ve mentored a lot of people. I can’t even put a number on it,” Trower said.
Chief Trower said he’s not sure what he’ll do in retirement, but his wife has a ‘to-do’ list waiting for him; after he takes a couple months off, of course.
