While he was only a boy of 14 when he first came to Mare Island, Jim Greig eventually rose to the rank of fire chief of the naval base's fire department in 1935. During his 38-year tenure as chief, Jim oversaw a period of major growth for the department and was instrumental in the development of some of the first mutual aid programs in the region. During World War II, Jim trained area civilians in civil defense and set up and maintained hundreds of bomb-watcher stations in the north Bay Area. Jim died on November 24, 1965 after suffering a job-related heart attack.