Howard Rayon was small in stature, but made a large contribution to the fire service, where he worked for almost four decades. He was also a practicing labor attorney representing firefighters and law enforcement. He was named California Fire Service Training Officer of the Year in 2006 and was a driving force behind CSFA, where he ultimately served as deputy director. His passions included running, aviation and race cars. He retired in 2005 but remained active on a Type 1 incident management team until his death of job-related bone cancer.