My dad joined the fire department in 1936. In those days you had to carry a nickel wrapped in a rag in your coat pocket, so that after you got done at a fire you could call headquarters and let them know that you were coming back to the station. If there was another run, they could just dispatch you from where you were. Also in those days, you would go to the fire with your sirens, bells, and red lights going. But when you came back from the fire, you always rang the bell really slow as you drove home as an all clear signal to the people that were nearby. It was kind of a neat thing that they did that to let everyone know that the fire was out and everything was safe. That actually went on until shortly after I came on the department.

Your grandpa left the job in 1968, which put him at 32 years of service. I joined the fire department in 1961 and I retired 1995, which gave me 34 years of service. Then my son Jimmy joined in about 1987. If Jimmy goes as long as me and my dad, then we would actually have 100 years of fire service between the three generations. I think that’s a cool thing. 

It’s interesting seeing how the job has changed over time, where safety is more important to the firefighter now than what it was in the earlier days. There were also a lot of changes to the equipment, with more and safer equipment for rescue and for putting fires out.