Longtime Fire Capt. Paul J. Waite Jr., who died in 2016 of work-related cancer, will be honored Sept. 29 at the California Firefighters Memorial in Sacramento.
His name, along with 36 other fallen firefighters, will be added to the memorial wall.
Waite was 64 when he died Aug. 26, 2016 of cancer of the eye. He began as a volunteer firefighter in 1989 with Tuolumne County Fire Department. He started working full time in 2001 with Twain Harte Fire and Rescue and for a long time oversaw training. He served for 25 years.
Among his contributions was the development of low-angle rescue techniques and strategies,
Chief Todd McNeal at Twain Harte Fire said in Waite's obituary.
Waite is survived by his wife, Debra, and his son, Karl, who is a firefighter in Alameda.
At the time of his father's death, Karl Waite said, “The fire service, he ate, slept and breathed it all day long, every day. He passed that on to me.”