By Scott Meeker

smeeker@joplinglobe.com

Were a fire to break out on the back section of his property, Eugene Mahoney knows that because of how the land is situated, it would be the Joplin Fire Department that would respond.

But since the front part of the property sits squarely in the village of Leawood, a fire there would mean a call to the Redings Mill Fire Department.

Press him for more details and Mahoney could offer up strategies for fighting that hypothetical fire, information about the fire apparatus and equipment that would be needed, and the hydraulics that would be required to suppress the blaze. And if any of those firefighters responding happened to be due for a promotion, he could even offer them some tips on what they should brush up on before their exam.

A veteran of the Los Angeles Fire Department, Mahoney has spent nearly three decades authoring training manuals and study guides used by firefighters around the country.

Now 86 years old, Mahoney has just published his final textbook — “Mathematics and Problem Solving for Fire Personnel” — and is ready to finally extinguish a career that has burned strong for more than 60 years.

Mahoney grew up the son of a fireman. However, it wasn’t a career that he had ever seriously considered for himself.

“When (my dad) was on the fire department they didn’t have any radios on the apparatus and they had to stay in the fire station,” he said. “Most of the guys in the station, they would consume quite a bit of alcohol. The firemen would go spend the day in the beer hall. One firefighter would stay in the station and if they got a call, he would run down to get the rest and they’d all go back and respond to the call.

“It didn’t look like a career I wanted.”

In 1946, Mahoney had been released from active duty as a pilot in the Navy and was looking for a job.

After some encouragement from his mother, he took the fire-department exam and landed a job as a firefighter for the Los Angeles Fire Department the following year. His career there would span 22 years, including a number of years as battalion chief.

“That fire department is one of the busiest in the nation, and the battalion I was in charge of was the busiest in the Los Angeles Fire Department,” Mahoney said. “Today, that battalion of the fire department is noted as ‘The Battalion that Never Sleeps.’”

His battalion was one of those that responded when racial tensions boiled over in August 1965 in the Watts neighborhood, resulting in six days of rioting and fires that consumed hundreds of buildings and businesses.

“I happened to be on vacation at the time it started,” Mahoney said. “I called and offered to come in, but I was told the department had it under control.