A district chief whose roots ran deep at HFD had a great rapport with his colleagues
By Peggy O’Hare
The Houston Chronicle
HOUSTON — Funeral services for a longtime Houston firefighter who had gone public with his battle for better insurance coverage will be held today at a Klein-area church.
Steven Scott Jahnke, 59, who hailed from a family with long and deep roots in the Houston Fire Department, died early Wednesday after suffering from melanoma cancer for 10 months.
Several months before his death, Jahnke and his wife, Renee, were interviewed by a television news program about their struggles with his medical insurance coverage. Jahnke was unable to participate in an experimental clinical trial at M.D. Anderson Cancer Center because his health insurance plan would not cover the costs, he and his wife told KPRC-TV.
The couple appealed the insurance company’s decision, but by the time approval was granted, Jahnke’s cancer had spread to his brain.
35-year veteran
Jahnke, a district chief at HFD Station 96 near Willowbrook Mall, had been with the city’s fire department for more than 35 years. His father and his uncle were Houston firefighters. His son-in-law, some of his cousins and several of his nephews and nieces are still members of the department today.
One of his nephews, HFD Capt. Jay Jahnke, was killed in a high-rise fire in October 2001, but that never deterred Steve Jahnke’s commitment to his job, fellow firefighters said.
“Certainly, he could have retired a long time ago. But I think (his nephew’s death) reinforced the job and his resolve,” said HFD Capt. Michael Woodard at Station 96. “That’s what he wanted to do.”
Jahnke was a confident commander in times of emergency, and that reassured his crews, said HFD Capt. Stephen Kramer, a friend of more than 20 years who worked at the same station.
“There’s all different types of scene commanders — you have those who scream, you have others who are very hesitant in the orders they give ... But with Steve, there was a sense of control,” Kramer said.
“When Steve would pull up, everybody would have a feeling that everything’s going to be controlled, he’s going to take care of business and he’s looking out for us. ... If it was theater, he had what you would call stage presence.”
Reinforced bond
Jahnke insisted the crews at Station 96 eat dinner together at the firehouse and that the firefighters and their families socialize with each other, friends said. That reinforced the bond and camaraderie among the crew members.
“The guys that were on his shift wanted to work on his shift, wanted to work with him,” Woodard said. “He had a great rapport with the men. He was a leader. He expected the best of his guys and of himself.”
In an interview with The Houston Post in 1993, Jahnke likened his chosen profession to a brotherhood. He also told the newspaper that fighting fires can “take years off your life,” adding that he believed his father, Roe, and his uncle, Claude, may have suffered heart attacks early in life because of their aggressive firefighting tactics.
Jahnke kept that fighting resolve in his attitude toward his own illness. “He never lost hope,” said HFD engineer Kenny Hale, a friend of Jahnke’s for 16 years. “Even when the chemo and the drugs would get him down, he always put his family first. In the 10 months he was going through that, he was never one to complain.”
Jahnke and his wife of 37 years have four children — Eric, Holley, Laura and Greg — and eight grandchildren.
Copyright 2007 The Houston Chronicle
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