[Congressional Record Volume 154, Number 130 (Friday, August 1, 2008)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1688]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     CHIEF DAN PACKER: IN MEMORIAM

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. DAVID G. REICHERT

                             of washington

                    in the house of representatives

                         Friday, August 1, 2008

  Mr. REICHERT. Madam Speaker, I rise today in honor of Chief Dan 
Packer, the former Chief of East Pierce Fire and Rescue who gave the 
ultimate sacrifice in the line of duty Saturday, July 26, 2008, in 
Northern California.
  Packer, the only chief of the East Pierce district and the past 
president of Washington Fire Chiefs, arrived in Northern California on 
June 25, 2008, to assist in the Panther Creek fire as a Division 
Supervisor. He was called to duty by the U.S. Forest Service and 
immediately leaped at the opportunity to serve and protect in another 
community.
  Chief Packer began his career as a firefighter in Burien, Washington, 
in 1981. In 1995, he took over as the fire chief of Bonney Lake, 
Washington, and transformed the department of six firefighters into 
East Pierce Fire and Rescue. The district now serves nearly 75,000 
people in the areas of Bonney Lake, Sumner, Lake Tapps, South Prairie 
and Wilkeson; about 142 square miles total. Aside from his duties as a 
day-to-day leader at East Pierce Fire and Rescue, Chief Packer argued 
patiently, eloquently and reasonably before the State Legislature in 
order to make the people he served in Pierce County safer.
  During a time of reflection such as this, many phrases continue to 
appear while describing the kind of servant Chief Packer was. I read 
Chief Packer was ``a firefighter's fire chief,'' a ``visionary 
leader,'' and a ``great and exceptional man.'' The residents of East 
Pierce County have lost a wonderful leader and I grieve with you. To 
the fire personnel who worked under and alongside Chief Packer: I 
understand your pain. I have experienced losing a partner in the line 
of duty.
  Most of all Madam Speaker, we grieve with the family of Chief Packer. 
He was a son, a husband, father and grandfather; his sacrifice was also 
their sacrifice and their loss. But they can live with the comfort in 
his spirit and the hope that his spirit lives on to inspire others with 
his true heroism and willingness to serve to protect all of us. That is 
the spirit of a first responder and the memory of Chief Packer we must 
always honor and never forget.

                          ____________________