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dirk-bodnar

Name: Dirk A. Bodnar
Education: BS Geology 81, MS Petroleum Geology 84 UAF
Family: Wife: Maru Rivas (Venezuela), Kevin Bodnar (8), Kail Bodnar (6)
Current Occupation: Sr. Petroleum Geologist (Consultant) 31+ yrs, retired from BP after 25 yrs.

How many years were you with the University of Alaska Fire Department?
4 years

What is your favorite memory, story, experience, etc. while at the University Fire Department?

 I think I enjoyed us beating MacIntosh many years in the Winter Carnival.  Of course we stole some of their people, and the points were weight in our favor since we had very little population (19).  It was always fun.   I’ll also never forget when we got a hold of the Tradition Stone, and were escaping other dorm groups in Todd’s Rhino…  And then there was the time me and Jeff Carney got a hold of a kayak mold and we built the fiberglass kayaks in the Truck 1 engine bay, boy that stunk up the firehall for a bit.  Buck sure liked that… There are so many good stories… to say nothing of the time we talked Bill Schechter out of his neighbor’s pigs he killed in his driveway.  We loaded the first one up, made bacon and ham in a smoker made of visqueen out in the back yard of the Firehall…

Brief History/Biography:

Born in Fairbanks Oct 7th, 1956 on college road (our house was next to where the Blue Marlin was).  Moved to Anchorage in 1960 where I grew up and finished High School as the first graduating class of Bartlett High School.  Worked as a mail boy for Alyeska Pipeline one summer, a bullcook on a drill rig on the slope one, and as a laborer on the Pipeline construction other summers. Graduated with MS in Petroleum Geology and went to work for SOHIO in Houston, Texas.  Worked 25 years for BP.  Houston, Anchorage, Venezuela, Trinidad & Tobago, Baku Azerbaijan, then retired to Venezuela 3 years, but now lives in Southern California consulting halftime as a Sr. Production Geologist.