Frank Halliday Ault

Frank was born May 4, 1944, 80 years ago today in London during the German V-2 bombings to a Norwegian nurse and a war correspond father who was the United Press London Bureau Chief.  After the war they moved to New York, then to Los Angeles in 1948, and to Palm Desert in 1959.  While in high school he heard the community fire siren, seeing a red glow, he went to check it out.   He was asked his age and when it said 17, the response was “grab a hose”, thus started his 63-year involvement with the fire service, including being the Volunteer Fire Chief of Palm Desert. 

After graduating from Stanford University, he joined the US Army in 1966 at Fort Ord, CA.  He did basic training at Fort Dix, NJ where he taught first aid due to his fire background.  He attended Officer Candidate School at Fort Lee, VA before being stationed in Mannheim, Germany where he served as the S2 / S3 officer at the 115th Supply Battalion.  Many Germans resented the US Army’s presence in their country, but that attitude changed in 1968 during the Czechoslovakia Independence uprising when Soviet backed troops from Hungary, Poland, and East Germany amassed near the West German border, as the Germans feared the Russians more than they disliked our Army’s presence in their country.   His first daughter, Jennifer, was born in 1969 in the Heidelberg Germany Army Hospital. 

After being discharged from the Army in 1969, Frank began a successful 37-year career with SDG&E becoming their Chief Financial Officer and later Senior Vice President of SDG&E’s Parent Company Sempra Energy and a board member of SDG&E.  In 1970 his second daughter, Heather, was born in San Diego.  In 1974 he married Evie Halverson and they will be celebrating their 50^th anniversary later this year. 

During this time, he continued his community involvement serving on the Board of the San Diego Foundation for 16 years, two of them as the Board Chair.  He became a member of the Mt. Laguna Volunteer Fire Department and served as their Board Chair.  The San Diego Regional Fire Foundation was formed in 1989 to support all fire agencies in San Diego County.  Frank has served as their Board Chairman the last 30 years.   After the 2003 Cedar Fire and the 2007 Witch Creek Fire, he served as a member of a panel of fire chiefs working to form the San Diego County Fire Authority to take over the duties of all 30 volunteer fire departments in San Diego County.

After retiring in 2006 Frank splits his time between San Diego and southern Oregon.  He is continuing his community service with the Fire Foundation, and he also founded and chairs the Josephine County Foundation in Oregon where high school students are taught and perform community service.  Lastly, he still has a fire truck in his barn in Oregon. 

Frank has proudly served our country in the U.S. Army and his communities with his support of the fire service.