![]() ![]() In the fall of 1982, a great tragedy struck the McMillan family when Chief Clyde McMillan died suddenly. Task Force Tips continued to grow rapidly, and in May of 1976, groundbreaking took place for their first facility in Valparaiso, Indiana. In the early years of the company, he was involved with the manufacturing of the company, while his father and brother, Doug, handled the sales aspects. Stewart attended Purdue University where he received the first interdisciplinary degree in engineering, while working full-time to help his father in the struggling family business. From that point on, he was involved with the Gary Fire Task Force up through 1973. In 1968, at the age of 14, Stewart drove a 1947 International Pumper to a lumber yard fire, and connected it to the hydrant with a hard suction all by himself. As Chief Clyde McMillan, Stewart's father, grew the Gary Fire Task Force, Stewart was there weekend after weekend helping rebuild and maintain the menagerie of old fire apparatus that the Civil Defense Fire Department had managed to obtain. All through his childhood years, Stewart found hanging out at the fire station to be far more interesting than hanging out with other kids. His earliest recollection is riding back to the fire station on the knee of a Chicago Lieutenant on Squad 2 when he was six years old. Stewart has been in the fire industry since childhood. ![]()
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