Sloan J. Flores, De Soto Parish, Louisiana
Submitted by Mike Miller

**************
**********************************************
Copyright.  All rights reserved.
http://usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm
http://usgwarchives.net/la/lafiles.htm
**********************************************


**************************************************************

Sloan J. Flores, chief of the fire department of Shreveport, became 
one of the fire fighters of the city nineteen years ago, and has given 
approximately half of his entire lifetime to this arduous and responsible 
service.  When the local class and outside authorities comment favorably, 
as they frequently do, on the high efficiency in physical equipment and 
personnel of the Shreveport Fire Department, Chief Flores deserves some 
measure of credit for this praise.  He was head of this department when 
still a comparatively young man, and has a promise of long years of capable 
service in that line.

He was born at Mansfield, Louisiana, January 15, 1887.  His father was 
also born at Mansfield, May 6, 1855, and has spent his active career 
in that locality as a farmer and planter.  The mother of Chief Flores 
bore the maiden name of Sallie Sloan.  She was born at Mansfield, 
April 21, 1857, and died February 14, 1913. Chief Flores has a sister, 
Mrs. Mary Flores White, who was born at Mansfield, July 24, 1893.

Sloan J. Flores grew up on a farm, had the experience and training of a 
farmer boy, obtained his education in local schools, and in 1905, at the 
age of eighteen, came to Shreveport. and on August 19, 1906. entered time 
local fire department as a hoseman.  He was promoted to driver, and on 
November 12, 1910. was made captain at station No. 1, and on March 1, 1913, 
was transferred to the central stadium.  On April 15, 1919, he was raised to 
the grade of assistant chief tinder Chris O'Brien.  Mr. O'Brien took personal 
interest in his youthful protege and carefully supervised his training with 
a view that he should succeed him when the veteran chief retired.  
Mr. O'Brien resigned in August, 1923. and for two years previously, 
during his illness.  Mr. Flores was acting chief.  Then, on August 14, 1923, 
he was appointed chief under Commissioner Stringfellow's administration.  
Since he became chief the central fire station has been completed, being 
one of the most perfectly adapted and equipped central stations possessed 
by any city in the country.  The fire department and the water service of 
Shreveport, in spite of the phenomenal growth of the city, have been 
maintained at such a point of efficiency that fire insurance rates as 
fixed by the insurance board compare favorably with those of any other 
southern city.

Mr. Flores attended the national convention of fire chiefs at Buffalo in 1924. 
He is a thirty-second degree Mason, a member of the Mystic Shrine, Knights of 
Pythias, I. 0. 0. F., Lions Club, and he and his wife belong to the Methodist 
Episcopal Church. He married, February 9, 1909, Miss Fannie Parnell, a native 
of Blanchard, Louisiana, and daughter of Andrew Jackson and Susie (Rogers) 
Parnell, of Blanchard.  Her mother died in 1906, at the age of forty-eight, 
and her father is now seventy-one years of age.

NOTE:  The referenced source contains a black and white photograph of the 
subject with his/her autograph.

A History of Louisiana, (vol. 2), pp. 51-52, by Henry E. Chambers.  
Published by The American Historical Society, Inc., Chicago and New York, 1925.