Life can lead us down some interesting and challenging paths. Day by day, we collect a very unique set of knowledge and skills along the way. At the time, it’s hard to see around the next bend or curve in the road, but something keeps pulling us in that direction, so we keep moving forward. Then, many years later, these paths, seemingly by some crazy cosmic coincidence, converge and we find ourselves smack dab in the middle of an opportunity that looks like it was tailor-made for us. That’s what happened to Chief Bill Jahnke.
Flirting with Fire
Let’s start at the beginning. Chief Jahnke, president and owner of WHP Trainingtowers, has been flirting with fire ever since his early college days. It all started back in 1968 when he attended Pittsburg State University. While in college, he volunteered for the rural fire department in Crawford County. In 1970, he returned to Overland Park, KS, and volunteered at that fire department. Eventually, he became chief of the Overland Park Fire Department and served for 11 years until his retirement in 1997. He is also a former Director of the International Association of Fire Chiefs and currently holds a position on the NFPA 1402 Standard on Facilities for Fire Training and Associated Props Committee. But that’s just one side of Chief Bill Jahnke.
Building Relationships
Remember that whole college thing? Well, while Jahnke was busy being a volunteer firefighter, he was also making a living in the construction industry. He earned his bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Technology. It was during the construction of the Overland Park Training Center that the two sides of Jahnke’s life collided irreversibly. Jahnke was the acting general contractor on the site of the department’s fire training center when he met Bernie Padgett. Long story short…Padgett owned a training tower company that he had started in 1980 and he was now ready to retire. When he heard Chief Jahnke had retired from his position as Chief, the two began talking. With Jahnke’s dual skill set of construction and firefighting, it was almost like he had been preparing his whole life for this opportunity. It was the perfect fit, and just like that, the two seemingly unrelated paths converged and he was off and running on a new adventure.
Blending Backgrounds to Build Better Training Towers
Chief Jahnke’s firefighting background, coupled with his years of experience in construction management, made him uniquely qualified to not just build fire training towers but to build fire training towers that met the specific needs and applications of the fire service industry.
He took his uniquely blended background and applied his decades of knowledge in both construction engineering and fire protection to his new career. His unique point of view led to many improvements in training towers over the years. “When I first got into the business, I looked at the towers and thought, ‘We don’t fight fires with metal floors,’” said Jahnke. So they changed the towers to concrete floors.
They also added a panel system that more closely mimics wood, concrete, and brick walls so that firefighters could train on ladders. Roofs underwent changes as well. “Eighty percent of the roofs firefighters encounter are composite (shingled),” Jahnke said. “So we got rid of the metal roofs, increased the roof pitch to 5/12 to 9/12, and added chop-out holes so the firefighters could practice their ax skills.”
From replacing handrails with galvanized steel to adding more realistic windows to upgrading doors to plate steel for durability, every change to the towers over the years was carefully considered from both a construction and a firefighting perspective. Today, WHP Trainingtowers are the best in the industry, designed for longevity and safety.
Tops in Training
“Training was important to me because we didn’t fight fires every day,” Jahnke shared. “When you’re in a dangerous job, on-the-job training is not the best way to learn. You want seasoned professionals with the experience to make the best decisions under extreme conditions. Our training towers provide that experience.”
Today, with over 1,000 training towers worldwide including towers in Canada, Italy, Asia, Germany, and the Middle East, WHP Trainingtowers has provided the fire service with more pre-engineered metal fire training towers and buildings than any other supplier in the world. As the company celebrates its 42nd year, Chief Jahnke is enjoying a semi-retired role. He is leaving the day-to-day running of the business in the capable hands of his children, Maggie Scaletty, Amanda Simmons, and Steve Jahnke. Even when he is fully retired, his presence will be felt. His life and legacy will continue to inspire, and his training towers will continue to save the lives of firefighters worldwide.
