[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 157 (2011), Part 1]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages 569-570]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                   IN RECOGNITION OF JOSEPH E. TELLES

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. JACKIE SPEIER

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                       Thursday, January 20, 2011

  Ms. SPEIER. Mr. Speaker, I rise to honor Battalion Chief Joseph E. 
Telles for his 25 years of service with the San Bruno Fire Department. 
He was a past president of the San Mateo County Operations Committee 
and a member of the San Mateo County Communications/Technology 
Committee. Joe also served as the Fire Departments Liaison to the Bay 
Area Rapid Transit.
  Joe started his career as a Firefighter in 1985 at the age of 25. He 
was promoted to Fire Captain in 2002 and to Battalion Chief in 2004.

[[Page 570]]

  During the 2009 Shu-Lightening wildland fire incident in the Shasta 
Trinity Forest, Joe was the Strike Team Leader, demonstrating--as he 
has throughout his career--his extraordinary leadership and 
organizational skills.
  Joe has been successful in securing many grants to help the fire 
department obtain vital equipment, such as self-contained breathing 
apparati, EMS jackets, wildland shelters, truck rescue equipment, and 
portable radios.
  The biggest accomplishment for a fire fighter is to not have anyone 
killed or seriously injured. Joe has a proud record of that 
accomplishment, even though he has fought a large number of big fires. 
Among them was a church fire in San Bruno that almost cost him his own 
life and the Salami fire in South San Francisco. In that fire Joe made 
what he calls ``the best decision of his life.'' He ordered 20 fire 
fighters out of the building right before its roof collapsed.
  By far the biggest fire Joe and numerous fire fighters ever had to 
face was the ``Glenview Incident,'' the horrendous PG&E natural gas 
pipeline explosion in San Bruno on September 9, 2010 that killed 8 
people and destroyed 37 homes. Due to the outstanding heroism of Joe 
and his colleagues, countless lives were saved. He was part of a world 
class emergency response team that prevented the disaster from reaching 
unimaginable proportions.
  Joe has been married to his wife Cindy for as long as he has been 
Battalion Chief. They are the proud parents of three children, 
Jacquelyn, Joey and Wesley.
  Mr. Speaker, I ask the members of this body to join me in honoring 
Joe Telles upon his retirement for his dedication to public service at 
the City of San Bruno Fire Department.

                          ____________________