Wichita ? Wichita’s fire marshal, who was so dedicated to his job that he left many people wondering if he ever slept, has retired after 35 years.

Ed Bricknell ended his 35 years as a firefighter at the end of July. The 61-year-old did sleep over the years, but mostly in small catnaps or with the pager phone on his pillow.

“One of his many sayings is, ’24/7 — that’s when we work, guys,'” said Capt. Stuart Bevis, a fire investigator who worked with or for Bricknell for 14 years.

It didn’t matter if the fire was a one-room blaze or a high-rise fire. Bricknell was often there before others were aware of it, Bevis said.

Bricknell’s wife, Teresa, admits she gave up trying to get him to bed if he fell asleep in his chair.

“Sometimes that would be the only sleep he would get,” she said. “And I didn’t want to cheat him of it.”

Bricknell remembered his first day when he arrived at 8 a.m. to be yelled at by his captain. He was told he was supposed to be ready to roll out the door at 8.

“I was never late again,” Bricknell said. “Not even close.”

Bricknell ended up in Kansas when stationed at McConnell Air Force Base with the U.S. Air Force.

He signed up to be a firefighter after seeing a big fire on his drive home from a job at Cessna Aircraft.

“Man, I want to do that,” he said then.

Some images are still burned into his mind, like a 1987 fire in Wichita that killed four children. Bricknell said he found two of the children hugging in the basement.

“That,” he said, “was god-awful.”

Bricknell said he believes prevention is the best way to fight a fire.

“The prevention part of the fire service is being neglected,” he said.

“Everyone seems to be concentrating on the fire trucks, fire stations and putting out the fire. If someone’s calling 911 and saying their house is on fire, we’re already late.”