Something I posted on Facebook yesterday morning, October 5, 2026.
Remembering the incredible Steve Medley. We lost him in a traffic collision during this hour 20 years ago today, as he was heading to our Yosemite National Park Rotary Club meeting at The Ahwahnee, where he was our President at the time.
He is still missed and remembered.
On Friday, October 17, 2025, I did a solo run back to the park yesterday for a memorial service for a really great person. Arvin Abbott was a long time fixture in the Retail Division. You won’t find a better person or guy.
While it seems memorial services are the primary reason for going back these past years, it’s still awesome to revisit the old haunts. The other nice thing is that they serve as mini reunions. Lots of hugs and catchup stories.
Sad to hear from NPS and company folks alike that the operations are still messed up, some saying they can’t believe it’s actually worse now than a couple years ago.
Not a lot of photos on this trip. I had to make it quick to get back to Clovis for a fundraiser dinner.
As I was perusing Facebook recently, a conversation popped up about Engine 51 and it’s time in Yosemite. There was a lot of information about it, and most of it correct. There were a couple folks who were quite stubborn in their erred information. Several subject matter experts through in good information. This was my response.
A little Engine 7/Engine 51 action while in Yosemite. The Engine stayed very busy. Toned out at the same time as NPS Fire, the Engine responded to an average of 120 calls for service each year.
The most frequent calls were landing zone (LZ) coverage and “burnt toast” calls (more later).
In the summer months, E-7 often responded to the Ahwahnee Meadow (and occasionally El Cap Meadow) for the park assigned NPS Helicopter 551, or CHP 40 out of Fresno, for back country or technical rescues and medicals. Those calls often involved a second ship coming into the park, a medical helicopter, to transport those injured and other medical issues to a hospital in Modesto, Calif. The E-7 crew has handled LZ coverage for as many as 7 helicopters at once on the ground. LZ calls occasionally occurred multiple times a day. Since E-7’s firefighters were long term full time employees in their own jobs, business interruptions were common. Both the Curry Company and Delaware North understood and accepted it as a normal business practice—and in fact was a point of pride and success for the executive management teams.
More often in the winter when windows and doors are closed up, and although the nickname itself was only accurate a small percentage of the time, the other prevalent response was nicknamed the “burnt toast call.” The company employed some awesome chefs. Yet in housing buildings with shared kitchens, a small percentage of non-chef employees were not always as safety conscious in the dorms’ shared kitchens.
In all seriousness, at all times of day, these calls got jumped on fast because of the huge potential of loss in residents lives and structures. All firefighters lived in or adjacent to these residential areas, and when toned out to respond would pass by a location while running to the firehouse and could give an initial size up.
The Engine responded to all the other types of calls too, traffic collisions, fire alarm activations, spills, and such with an average of at least one working structure fire a year. Although some firefighters were EMTs, a pure medical call was not in its normal response protocols.
Over its history, the crew had a proud tradition of consistently beating NPS Fire to calls, including one in a building that housed the NPS Fire Valley Engines. It trained twice as much as NPS Fire, and since they were company employees, usually knew a structure’s layout and operations much better than a NPS Firefighter.
Sadly, without the knowledge of both the concession and NPS Fire Chief’s, when Aramark took over the contract from Delaware North in 2016, Aramark leadership quietly cut a side deal with park management to pay NPS an annual amount to eliminate Engine 7. In 2018, after 80 plus years of service to the community, Station 7 was silently decommissioned.
David Stone
Chief of Security and Fire, Delaware North | Aramark
2000-2018
Let’s start this off with my retirement announcement on Facebook.
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July 7, 2022. It’s time. Sooner than some. Later than others.
I’ve joined a handful of you who also transitioned during this past week, including my dear bride who officially retired a week ago, last Thursday, June 30.
This will take some adjustment. I’ve been in the work force one way or another for a long time.
First job: Contra Costa Times, AKA “The Green Sheet” as a Carrier. Yes, it was printed on green newspaper, and it was an early morning paper. I often went to elementary school with green ink on my hands.
Longest job: 1967-1996 (Sometimes part time, other times full time, and lots and lots of donated time.) Working for my father’s cable tv company, Western Cable Enterprises, as a Laborer, Mechanic, Installer, Technician, commercial size (the really large ones) Satellte Dish Installer, and Vice President. He also had a safety company called Action Barricade that kept us busy. It also included a stint as a Bar Manager. After my dad “retired,” he owned a popular bar in Ventura, California. When he became terminal ill, I dropped out of law school and ran the bar for about a year before we sold it.
Biggest case worked: TCI (Telecommunications, Inc. At the time, the world’s largest cable TV provider) Nothing like taking something that started with a vehicle stop by some drug cops that turned up nothing other than a couple cable TV boxes in the trunk that looked damaged. It eventually turned into a several month long case where I worked jointly with the FBI and the IRS Criminal Investigation Divison that resulted in six search warrants being simultaneously executed in three time zones in four different states, not to mention a questionable suicide that turned out to be a related murder. It was intense and fun.
Best job: Chief of Security and Fire for Delaware North in Yosemite National Park. Awesome place and an awesome team.
All the other jobs were fine for their time, but they just get the “Participant” ribbons.
I’ve got a wide variety of projects lined up, so I’ll stay busy for some time to come. Travel will happen too. Unfortunately because of our recent lifestyle, we haven’t swung a golf club in over three years. Nevertheless, Kari Stone has a goal to golf in every state, and we are about a third of the way through the list.
First order of business for retirement is to dress for success so I may need to go out and buy a selection of oversized Hawaiian and bowling style shirts, short pants with plenty of cargo pockets, and the ubiquitous New Balance shoes.
Happy trails.
The last employed tour of duty:
Something I posted on Facebook yesterday morning, October 5, 2026. Remembering the incredible Steve Medley. We lost him in a traffic colli...
