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Log inAfter nearly a half century of service...
After nearly a half century of service...
by Outspoken on Tue Jun 10, 2008 4:07 am
After nearly a half century of service, veteran firefighter has 'retired'
BY MEGHAN V. MALLOY
Staff Writer Kennebec Journal
FARMINGDALE -- Few people can look back on 50 years of service to an organization. Even fewer can look back on it with enjoyment.
Then again, Loring Smith is not like other folks.
Fondly known around town as "Bud," the Farmingdale man, 82, decided to "retire" from the Farmingdale Fire Department earlier this month. He has been a firefighter for Farmingdale for nearly 50 years.
"I guess I was getting too old," Smith said with a chuckle of his decision to hang up his fire hat.
Smith joined the Farmingdale Fire Department in the late 1950s, after his brother-in-law, who was the department chief, asked him to join.
"Back then, of course, you didn't get paid at all, but you did it for the good of the town," Smith said.
Over the past 50 years, the Farmingdale man has seen quite a bit.
"Mostly, they were minor fires we were going to," he recalled. While working for an oil company in Gardiner then known as F.N. Boston Coal, it was normal for Smith to drop everything at work to respond to a wood or structure fire. His understanding boss, Smith remembered, "didn't mind one bit. He'd let me go out on those jaunts."
Other fires are still burned into Smith's memory decades after they happened.
"Some 30 years ago," Smith recalled, he and other firefighters rushed to a home on Ash Street in Farmingdale to put out a blaze. As firefighters battled the flames, Smith saw someone sticking their arm out and he tried to save the victim. "I remember his arm sticking out there, and so I reached in to pull him out, but when I did, I saw his skin was already falling off," Smith said vividly. "He was already dead. We had to wait to get him out until the fire was out."
The department became like a second family to the Farmingdale man as his decades of service continued. Firefighters would get together to organize department fundraisers, raise donations for families affected by a burnt-down house or to meet other area fire departments.
"It was kind of a social event, too," Smith said. "It's been interesting."
The Farmingdale Fire Department also became a fixture within the Smith household. Smith's three sons all joined the Farmingdale Junior Fire Department. His youngest son is still a firefighter for the town of Manchester.
http://kennebecjournal.mainetoday.com/news/local/5136684.html
Staff photo by Andy Molloy
BY MEGHAN V. MALLOY
Staff Writer Kennebec Journal
FARMINGDALE -- Few people can look back on 50 years of service to an organization. Even fewer can look back on it with enjoyment.
Then again, Loring Smith is not like other folks.
Fondly known around town as "Bud," the Farmingdale man, 82, decided to "retire" from the Farmingdale Fire Department earlier this month. He has been a firefighter for Farmingdale for nearly 50 years.
"I guess I was getting too old," Smith said with a chuckle of his decision to hang up his fire hat.
Smith joined the Farmingdale Fire Department in the late 1950s, after his brother-in-law, who was the department chief, asked him to join.
"Back then, of course, you didn't get paid at all, but you did it for the good of the town," Smith said.
Over the past 50 years, the Farmingdale man has seen quite a bit.
"Mostly, they were minor fires we were going to," he recalled. While working for an oil company in Gardiner then known as F.N. Boston Coal, it was normal for Smith to drop everything at work to respond to a wood or structure fire. His understanding boss, Smith remembered, "didn't mind one bit. He'd let me go out on those jaunts."
Other fires are still burned into Smith's memory decades after they happened.
"Some 30 years ago," Smith recalled, he and other firefighters rushed to a home on Ash Street in Farmingdale to put out a blaze. As firefighters battled the flames, Smith saw someone sticking their arm out and he tried to save the victim. "I remember his arm sticking out there, and so I reached in to pull him out, but when I did, I saw his skin was already falling off," Smith said vividly. "He was already dead. We had to wait to get him out until the fire was out."
The department became like a second family to the Farmingdale man as his decades of service continued. Firefighters would get together to organize department fundraisers, raise donations for families affected by a burnt-down house or to meet other area fire departments.
"It was kind of a social event, too," Smith said. "It's been interesting."
The Farmingdale Fire Department also became a fixture within the Smith household. Smith's three sons all joined the Farmingdale Junior Fire Department. His youngest son is still a firefighter for the town of Manchester.
http://kennebecjournal.mainetoday.com/news/local/5136684.html
Staff photo by Andy Molloy
"Music is a moral law. It gives soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination, and charm and gaiety to life and to everything."
Plato (427-347 BC)
Plato (427-347 BC)
