W. Parker Browne previously served as a firefighter at the city of Williamsburg (VA) and Chief Instructor/Aircraft Crash Rescue at Tempelhof Central Airport, Berlin, Germany (USAF), during the Cold War. He is still a life-member, and former Captain, of his hometown fire company, the Capen Hose Company #4, Brockport (NY) Fire Department, where he joined in 1959, and was the first Brockport Fire Department Training Officer.

He was recruited by Akron Brass to come to Wooster, in 1968, to work in product development, sales, and marketing. Immediately, he was appointed as Minuteman, (Volunteer Firefighter) at the City of Wooster Fire Department, where he remained until 1988.

Fire service education and training has been a cornerstone of his distinctive fire service career. Parker attended his first Wayne County Fire School at Kidron FD, and for almost 40 years has served in some capacity on almost every annual Wayne County Fire School committee. Parker is semi-retired, but still serves as a local and national fire service educator, instructor, and consultant to the fire apparatus industry and municipal and industrial fire departments throughout North America.

He has been a part of the fire school committee from a small group being hosted by a single department to large annual fire schools at the Wayne County Career Center, the Wayne County Regional Training Facility and Southeast Local Schools. Consistently, the Wayne County Fire School has been one of the best and largest in the State of Ohio.

Parker is proud to hold honorary memberships in many Wayne County Fire Departments, and his influence is felt though-out the area. Probably the greatest local contribution has been the development and implementation of the Standardized Regional Water Supply System and the many long-term benefits that come from that.