Banks' Engine 16 will carry the remains of Chief Clarence Sweere. Photo: Chas Hundley
The Banks Fire District will honor former Chief Clarence Sweere on Saturday, August 14 with a procession from St. Francis in Roy to Banks’ Union Point Cemetery to transport the remains of the man who co-founded the Tri-Cities Rural Fire Protection District in 1954.
Sweere, who served as chief along with Chief Jim Ward when the two joined others in the Banks area to merge fire services in Banks, Manning and Buxton into one district in July 1954, died March 16, 2021. He was 94.
Sweere served as chief until 1966, when Ward took over for the Tri-Cities Rural Fire Protection District, which was renamed Banks Fire District #13 in March 2001.
