After 49 years with the Clermont Fire Department, Clermont’s fire chief Carle Bishop will be retiring and trading his boots and badge for a hunting and fishing license.
His quest to protect the residents of his hometown is inherent but for now, Bishop plans to devote his retirement years to his wife of 45 years. The Chief credits his wife Wendy for making their home his “refuge” between shifts in a rewarding but taxing job.
Plans for the new phase in his life. Bishop has bought a motor home and he and his wife plan to travel, spend time building their mountain retreat and enjoy time with their children and grandkids, who all live in the area.
Fire Chief Carle Bishop has deep roots in the City of Clermont. Bishop is a fourth-generation Clermontian. Bishop was born in 1952 in the original South Lake Hospital in Downtown Clermont, where the First United Methodist Church of Clermont parking lot is today.
In 1885 his great-great-grandfather, Captain Montgomery Cooper and wife Alice, came to Clermont from Iowa with their 3 children. The Coopers chartered a boxcar in Iowa and brought three horses, two mules, two farm wagons, one covered buggy, some plows, and a hay rake, which was used in raking up pine straw for Clermont’s first roads.
One year earlier, in 1884, M.P. Godfrey and Fernando A. Bishop from Alpena, Michigan built a sawmill on Lake Minneola. Fernando was also the local blacksmith. He and his wife had a son named Elmer, who later married Helen Cooper. “Their only child was my father, Clarence Bishop”, said Chief Bishop.
The Coopers and The Bishops
The Coopers, along with other families in the area formed the Cooperville Sunday Literary Society in the early 1890s. In 1906 the first library was opened on Saturday afternoons on Montrose St. In 1909, Mrs. Alice Cooper, Mrs. Helen Mar Bishop and Mrs. May Bishop McNiece were among the directors named. In 1914 the club desired a permanent home for the books and Mrs. Alice Cooper leased a lot on DeSoto Street to the Library Club which had a library built for $600.00. It was formally opened on November 3, 1914. “My grandmother, Mrs. Helen Mar Cooper Bishop was the librarian”, proudly states Bishop. In 1938, Helen Bishop, president of the Library Club, donated the property in memory of her mother Alice Cooper and it was officially named Cooper Memorial Library.
“My grandmother kept a diary for quite a few years, and also recorded the history of Clermont. She wrote that she and her sister Mae taught Bertha, the daughter of James and Sallie Townsend.” The Townsend home is located at the Historical Village.
Chief Bishop follows in his dad’s footsteps: His late father, Clarence Bishop, served as Clermont’s assistant fire chief in the 1960s and ’70s, as well as on the Clermont City Council. “My dad is my hero”, stated Chief Bishop during a recent interview with the media. Bishop Field holds his family namesake today (The field is located on East Avenue /1 block off SR50).
So much has changed since Bishop started 49 years ago, back when only one first-responder was sent to a call, fire trucks didn’t have roofs, apparatuses weren’t air-conditioned, the ambulance took just one patient at a time and there were no computers, Global Positioning Systems or Automatic Vehicle Locators. “Some things don’t change”, said Bishop. “Firefighting is not for the weak of heart and normally pursued by those who want to help people”.
The Clermont Fire Department started with all volunteers in 1923, seven years after the city was incorporated. Bishop joined in 1970 and became chief in 1990, filling the position of Fire Chief Bob Smythe. The department became a paid career department in 1999.
Bishop’s most notable accomplishments include growing an all-volunteer department into a career agency of about 90 employees, achieving international accreditation and lowering the ISO Public Protection Class rating three times, to Class 2.
Bishop’s large-range goal before retiring was that his department receives international accreditation and his department achieved that goal. The Commission on Fire Accreditation International awarded Clermont Fire Department the prestigious title in 2018, one of only 179 civilian agencies in the world to hold this designation and the first department in Lake County to do so.
As for Clermont’s rare ISO Class 2 rating, it is only achieved by about 2% of all U.S. departments evaluated. Clermont Fire Department currently is being evaluated and Bishop hopes it will receive a Class 1. The nationally recognized standard is based on extensive criteria and determines insurance premiums for homeowners and businesses.
“There are many things that I feel Clermont Fire Department has been out front of as a leader in our field,” Bishop said. Among them, Clermont became one of the first fire departments in Lake County to provide Advanced Life Support (ALS) medical services in 2001. It also is one of a few U.S. agencies Bishop knows of that require a physical fitness test for continued employment
“I’m proud to have been a part of it all,” Bishop said. “There’s been a lot of growth with personnel and within the community. I’m pleased with the Clermont Fire Department’s continued professionalism and all that we’ve accomplished together.”
“I hope I will be remembered as being fair and consistent in my dealings with others,” Bishop said. “Every day I tried to do what seemed right. I hope I have created something that will continue to serve the city and the residents far into the future,” Bishop said. “Everybody has their own way of helping people. This was mine.”
Fire Chief Carle Bishop Leaves His Legacy
During the Clermont City Council meeting on Tuesday, October 8, Fire Chief Carle Bishop was honored and surprised when the city manager and council unveiled a plaque dedicating the Fire Administration Building in his name.
It Read:
The Carle L. Bishop Fire Administration Building, dedicated to Carle L. Bishop – Fire Chief.
In recognition of 49 years of commitment to the Clermont Fire Department, compassion to helping others, and dedicated service to the citizens of Clermont.
“Chief Bishop has been an invaluable leader for the Clermont Fire Department (CFD) during a half-century of growth and change in the city,” Clermont City Manager Darren Gray said. “He has transformed our fire department into one of the most respected departments in the state. He will be greatly missed, and we wish him all the best in his well-deserved retirement.”
The South Lake Tablet thanks you for your service and wishes you a long and happy retirement.
Clermont Fire Chief Carle Bishop Retires After 49 years of Service
