When Reginald Warren Baker began work with Hamilton's fire prevention office in 1955 he was breaking new ground.
Public awareness and acceptance of fire prevention was not nearly as high as today and resistance to legislation and enforcement could be great.

But Mr. Baker who died Saturday at the age of 71, had a way of convincing people in a friendly way that they meet new, tougher regulations, say friends who worked with him.

"He always seemed to have a way he could work with them," said George Hooker, a former fire prevention officer who spent 30 years on the force with Mr. Baker.

Mr Baker began with the Hamilton Fire Department in 1946, after serving with the Royal Canadian Air Force from 1939 to 1945. He served until 1955 as a firefighter, and then moved to the fire prevention office  in 1962 and chief fire prevention officer in 1967. He retired in 1980.

"Reg was a teacher. A very human person with great feeling for the people he worked with," recalled co-worker Gord Millar.

He was a very conscientious person," said Mr. Hooker

A service was to be held at Truscott Brown Bros. Funeral Home on King Street East in Hamilton this afternoon.