If it’s possible to sum up a life with two words, then testimony from family, friends and former colleagues suggests “service” and “community” should be top contenders for describing the legacy of longtime Fairfax County volunteer fire chief Homer Johns.
Speakers repeatedly circled back to those concepts at a memorial service on Saturday (Nov. 16), as they paid tribute to the over five decades Johns spent with the McLean and Great Falls volunteer fire departments.
For son David Johns, who drove roughly two hours from his home in Staunton to attend, the ceremony at McLean’s Old Firehouse Center (1440 Chain Bridge Road) surfaced memories of countless days spent at the local fire stations and riding along with his father on emergency calls.
“It’s a little overwhelming because he spent so much time with the county,” David told FFXnow. “… But also, with the support from all the firefighters and those that he worked with and had the opportunity to meet through the years, just seeing them all here, it’s just amazing.”
Homer Johns, who died on Oct. 1 at the age of 93, was active as a volunteer firefighter at the Fairfax County Fire and Rescue Department’s Great Falls and McLean stations for 52 years — 42 of them as chief of one or both stations.
Born on July 23, 1931 in Baltimore, Maryland, Johns got an engineering degree from Virginia Tech before serving in the U.S. Army during the Korean War from 1952 to 1955, earning three Bronze Stars, among other medals.
While working at his day job for the CIA, he started volunteering as a firefighter for the McLean Volunteer Fire Department (MVFD) in 1967 at the encouragement of a coworker who would listen to the emergency scanner during their carpool. When his family moved to Great Falls in 1971, he joined that volunteer department as well.
Named the MVFD’s chief in 1977, Johns eventually filled nearly every administrative and operational role available. He was the county’s first volunteer chief to get certified as an emergency medical technician, and he served a total of 55 terms on the board of directors for both stations, including one two-year term when he was simultaneously chief in Great Falls and McLean.
After winning numerous accolades, including the McLean Chamber of Commerce’s 1990 Firefighter of the Year award, and helping oversee the design and construction of a new Great Falls fire station in 2012, Johns retired in February 2019 so he could spend more time with his children and grandchildren.
Though his tenure featured plenty of harrowing calls, including a fatal jet crash in McLean in the 1980s, as recounted to Inside NoVA when he retired, those at Saturday’s memorial service highlighted instead his commitment to carrying out the unheralded, day-to-day demands of being a volunteer firefighter.
MVFD President Patricia Moynihan, who said she joined the department so she could work with Johns, recalled coming into the office one day to find him continuing to work at his desk, even though the room had flooded.
Trish Butler, former chair of the McLean Winterfest Parade steering committee, joked that he “bullied” her into helping revive the annual event in 2008, noting that he never took credit for the instrumental role he played. He was given a Winterfest Founders Award in 2012.
“I’ll always remember him as one of the kindest and sweetest men I’ve ever known,” she said, getting emotional.
After a hiatus during the COVID-19 pandemic, the parade will return this December under the guidance of the McLean Revitalization Corporation.
Great Falls Volunteer Fire Department President Frank Smith emphasized Johns’s willingness to go above and beyond for the community, whether he was visiting schools to promote safety, providing additional medical staff at athletic events unprompted or enlisting Smith to serve as Santa Claus one Christmas after the person originally set to take on the role got sick.
“Homer gave so much to the community, so much to the departments. I mean, he was continually working to make it a better place,” Smith told FFXnow, describing Johns’s enthusiasm as infectious. “He continually wanted to improve everything he came in contact with, whether that was the community, the kids, the station, the programs, the finances, all of it.”
Johns’s devotion to his role, even though he wasn’t paid, was noticed by those outside the fire departments as well.
As a McLean resident since 1987, former Dranesville District supervisor John Foust considered Johns “a really good friend” and admits he was disappointed when the chief moved away. The kind of person who would always say what was on his mind, Johns exemplified the leadership and sense of community at the heart of public service, he said.
“I wanted to be here for him and also wanted to be here to show the volunteers that their efforts are not overlooked and not taken for granted,” Foust said. “On behalf of the community, as a former supervisor, I want to express my gratitude to them.”
Though he didn’t know Johns personally, Foust’s successor, Jimmy Bierman, said he wanted to be present at the memorial service to show his appreciation for “a lifetime of amazing service.”
During his memorial service remarks, David Johns noted that his father was also a sports fan, playing hockey and baseball. The sight of his father hitting golf balls in a field perhaps influenced his own pursuit of a professional golf career, though David says he regrets not becoming a firefighter.
In the end, though, Homer Johns’s volunteer work with the fire department will be his defining legacy.
“He did it because he had a passion for it. He didn’t do it because he got paid,” David said. “… I’m going to encourage firefighters today to carry on that legacy and to have that same drive as they go forward.”
