West Haven Fire Department Chief William S. Johnson Jr., center, is retiring Thursday after serving the Center District since 1966, the last 26 years as its chief. Jeff Holt/Register

WEST HAVEN — BONG. BONG. (Pause.) BONG. While most kids in the 1940s and '50s relied on toys for fancy, William S. Johnson Jr. diligently kept track of the old fire alarm bell. His eyes were on a tape machine fixed inside his parents' home so he could record the number of "bongs" and "punches" to help notify his father of a fire's location.

At the bell's notice, Johnson watched with boyhood wonder as his father, dressed in three-quarter-length boots and a non-insulated long jacket, sprinted to the street corner.

Just as the firetruck was about to roar past him without stopping, the volunteer fire captain of Savin Rock Hose Company 4 would jump onto the engine's back steps — off to fight another fire in the Center District.

Such a daring way to hitch a ride to a city fire "is illegal now" laughed Johnson, 71, who after following in his father's footsteps and becoming a career firefighter is retiring Thursday as chief of the Center District, formally known as the West Haven Fire Department.

Hired July 5, 1966, Johnson rose through the ranks of the independent district, one of three in the city, and assumed the chief's position 26 years ago — a title his father also held a decade earlier when he moved from the volunteer to career ranks.

Johnson, who still attacks burning buildings with his men when he could sit on the sidelines, said he recently took stock of his mortality and opted to spend time with his family after decades of making work a priority.

Though originally educated to be a schoolteacher, Johnson said his Park Street days and his family firefighter history, which also included a volunteer firefighter grandfather, eventually secured his fate. A well-designed fate, according to his peers, that caused him to be a tough firefighter, but one whose progressive and pragmatic approaches to the field would later earn him national acclaim.

"Let's start from the beginning. I was born across the street from the Savin Rock firehouse on (the now defunct) Holmes Street. Right in the middle of Savin Rock. Billy's Donuts was on the first floor and we lived on the second," said Johnson.

In his youth, Johnson, nicknamed "Wiggy" by family, was allowed only to watch as his father headed off to fires.

Of all the conflagrations during that time, the one seared into Johnson's memory occurred in July 1946 when he was 10 and his mother called home to notify his father of the sky-high flames she could see dancing on the horizon from her vantage point at the Tiernan's Homestead, which once stood at 445 Beach St.

Then the alarm in the house bonged.

Squeezed into a 1946 Dodge coupe with his dad, former Fire Commissioner Walter Page and a young friend, Jimmy Horan, Johnson rushed to the Savin Rock amusement park, where the Virginia Reel thrill ride was ablaze.

On scene, his father ordered him to push parked cars away from the heat, and pull the firebox to summon more firefighters to the scene.

Luckily, Johnson said, no one died, but that fire's ferocity helped drive him later, as a college student, to become a volunteer firefighter at the Second Avenue Hook and Ladder firehouse, and then after stints in the Marine Corps and in the industrial field, to become a Center District firefighter despite objections from his father (then department chief).

"I'm very comfortable in front of burning buildings," said Johnson.

While every fire and emergency weighs on Johnson, who has also been the city's Emergency Reporting System supervisor since 1983, he said the deaths of firefighters in the line of duty pain him most. He spoke especially of the Nov. 10, 1974, death of his longtime friend, Joseph J. Hines Sr. Hines died of smoke inhalation several days after battling a "nasty" chemical fire at the old Armstrong Rubber Co.

"I remember putting the flag at half mast," Johnson said, choking up.

Some of the tragedies he's faced as chief have been all too personal. In 1990, he quietly recalled, firefighters had to inform him that a vehicle had broadsided his mother's vehicle on Main Street, killing her. Three years ago, he had to hold back emotion when he responded to his nephew's untimely death, Johnson said.

Former Wallingford Fire Chief Jack K. McElfish, who formed the Connecticut Fire Chiefs' Association with Johnson, called Johnson a mentor who has made many contributions to firefighting.

Johnson is credited with being among the first in the state to equip a department with cutting-edge protective equipment, including heat-resistant turnout gear, self-contained breathing apparatus and air bags in firetrucks. He is also considered an innovator in strategic training, peers said.

Johnson used his department as the testing ground for many local and national initiatives, peers said. He was among the first to implement the "Stop, Drop & Roll" educational program in schools and to promote fire-retardant clothing for children.

He worked for years as a fire science instructor at the Waterbury State Technical College, the University of New Haven and the National Fire Academy.

McElfish said he and other colleagues always appreciated Johnson — a retired lieutenant colonel in the Marine Corps Reserve — for his no-nonsense perspective of the job.

"He is without doubt one of the most tactical and strategic in-command fire chiefs in the country. He has more common sense than most people have education," said McElfish, 61, now chief of the Fire Department in Sandy Springs, Ga.

"One day, when I grow up, I hope to be just like him," McElfish joked.

Allingtown District Fire Chief Victor J. Sampietro, 53, started training under Johnson as a teenage volunteer firefighter.

"He's one of the few people ... I can remember verbatim what he said in classes because it made such an impression on me in regards to foreground management strategy and tactics," said Sampietro, admitting that he still replays his old lecture tapes when he needs reinforcement.

"Oh boy, you'll never see the likes of anybody like that in West Haven again," said Sampietro.

"When one looks at families in West Haven who have devoted their lives over generations to the fire service ... the Johnson name is truly at the top of the list," added West Shore Fire Chief Harold C. Burns, who like Sampietro, comes from a family of firefighters.

Johnson attributed his commitment to an innate passion to learn about the field and "look beyond the West Haven Fire Department" to advocate advanced firefighting techniques.

Even after receiving a liver transplant in 1995, a gaunt 100-pound Johnson redrafted a chapter on personnel for "The Fire Chief's Handbook," a firefighter's Bible of sorts. Johnson said his liver failed from a combination of medication he took for severe arthritis, hepatitis B, and a rare blood disorder he contracted as a young Marine when he was stationed in the Caribbean and sold his blood to local storefronts for $5 of extra spending cash.

"We sold a little too much blood," Johnson wryly joked. "Who knows what kind of needles they used back in the 1950s."

Despite his achievements, he'll be the first to admit that his career has had some bumps.

Johnson remorsefully recalled a drunken driving arrest in 2000 for striking an Interstate 91 southbound barrier while driving a department-owned sedan. He felt so bad about the incident, he said, that he refused to make the city's taxpayers pay for his mistake and bought a new Crown Victoria to replace the one he "smashed up."

"It's a dark part of my career," he said.

Also, Johnson was assaulted in 1997 and hospitalized for four days with memory loss after being jumped by an unknown assailant outside Brian's Place on Campbell Avenue after he drank a couple beers and ate a sandwich and french fries while watching a football game.

"Let people think what they want," he said quietly.

His son, Center District fire Lt. William Johnson IV said he considers himself fortunate to have worked with his father, though it hasn't always been easy.

For one thing, the lieutenant said, his peers can leave the job at the firehouse, while his dad continues to analyze the efficiency of crews' fire responses over a family dinner.

But, he said he is lucky to get an insight into his father's "unique" training to attack fires with high speed and aggression.

"I've been most fortunate to do what I love with a man that I love. Not many guys get that opportunity," the younger Johnson said.

As for his father's retirement, the younger Johnson humorously balked, saying his father will still chase fires "looking over our shoulders."

And that, many of Johnson's colleagues said, makes them feel safe.

A retirement party for Johnson will be held 5-10 p.m. Friday at the Italian-American Club, 85 Chase Lane.Tickets are $35. Contact Lt. William S. Johnson IV at 606-4932.