The Jacksonville fire department headquarters has been named for former Chief Gary France Keys Sr. | Dan Scanlan, Jacksonville Today
Published on January 9, 2025 at 2:34 pm
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A cold sunshine bathed the Jacksonville Fire and Rescue Department headquarters Thursday morning as firefighters joined the fire chief, city officials and others for a solemn duty, some wrapped in red blankets to ward off the chill.
Then black bunting dropped to reveal the headquarters’ new name in honor of Chief Gary France Keys Sr.
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Smiling brightly, widow Beverly Keys said she never knew this would happen. But as she hugged friends after it was unveiled, she said the new name high above her was a fine way to remember her husband, who died just over 10 years ago.
“It’s just so amazing how this city loves him,” she said. “He loved this city, every inch of it, every inch. It didn’t matter — he’s always been here; he will always be here, and now — I love it! I love this building, but I love all of you. It’s just wonderful for our family.”
Keys was 76 when he died Dec. 23, 2014, after a lengthy illness, according to his obituary. A 1957 graduate of Andrew Jackson High School, he joined the Jacksonville Fire Department in 1960. In 1967, he became a member of the first rescue unit of the renamed Jacksonville Fire and Rescue Division.
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In his 29 years in the department, Keys was named Jacksonville’s deputy director of public safety, then fire chief before retiring in 1989. He was elected as the fire department’s Local 122 Union president for three terms.
Many who spoke during the unveiling service remembered Keys, having worked with him as head of the department as well as the union during mayoral administrations from Jake Godbold (1978-1987) through John Delaney (1995-2003).
Randy Wyse, former union chief and current head of the city police and firefighter’s insurance trust, remembered Keys as a take-charge person who once burst into Delaney’s office with issues about a contract.
“Be strong and demanding. Sometimes you have to make a stand for the men and women of this department,” Wyse recalled Keys saying many times. “That’s what you got to stand on. Sometimes you don’t make that stand when it is not for the better of the whole, and those are the tough decisions and I saw Gary make them.”
Keys’ name was to be unveiled after everyone spoke, but winds caused the black bunting to drop midway through the event. Looking at Beverly Keys in front of him, current Chief Keith Powers said that plans to dedicate the facility to Keys started in 2018, and the City Council recently approved it unanimously.
“I wanted her to see it happen before her health faded in later years, and Ms. Keys, we got it done,” Powers said, generating applause. “There’s a lot of people who helped get this done. The mayor’s office was behind this and really helped get it done.”
The current headquarters on North Julia Street is the former Federal Reserve Building and also houses the Emergency Operations Center. The fire department took over the facility in 1996, when the reserve moved to its current site on Water Street.
