the media had been critical of alderson and remained neutral over his conflict with fire commission. alderson retired at the end of the year and deputy chief frank rothermel became interim chief engineer, and he posted until alderson's successor was named. william l. miller became the fire chief engineer on january 17, 1956 and began to integrate the lafd. miller, not wanting to be in the same place as the man he replaced quietly went about the task. with some white firefighters backing integration and receiving punishment for it, the tide had turned against segregation and miller went ahead and transferred black and white firefighters to fire station 7 at 2824 s. main street. calling it an ‘experiment’, miller had chosen men he knew were un-opposed to integration for the assignment at fire station 7.