News

Following In Their Father`s Footsteps

Michelle Wolford

06/16/2013

June 16--Fathers express pride in their sons who have followed them into fire service. They also talk of their own fathers and grandfathers who came before them.

Across Monongalia and Preston counties, concern for their communities and tradition draw generation after generation of fathers and sons to serve as volunteer firefighters.

Some started as early as they could -- at age 16 -- as junior firefighters. Others, in fire companies without junior programs, started at 18.

Bruceton-Brandonville

Ryan Spiker's first exposure to firefighting came from riding with his mother, Tammy, an EMT, on an ambulance following his dad, Randy, to fires.

Randy Spiker, 45, has been the Bruceton-Brandonville fire chief for three years. Ryan, 23, is a lieutenant with the department.

They're not the only father-son duo in the department. Jeff Hixon started in the company alongside Randy Spiker. His son, Josh, started as a junior firefighter -- right alongside Ryan. Jeff Hixon is chief engineer; Josh is also an engineer for Company 3.

Chief Spiker said it's rewarding to see Ryan following in his footsteps, though "it's a bit unnerving too, knowing the danger he's in. But I guess that's what we're trained for."

Ryan said he's always looked up to his firefighting dad. "I've grown up with Mom and Dad running the ambulance service and fire department. It's just us doing our part to help the c o m m u n i t y. "

Josh Hixon also talks with pride of his father's work. "I always grew up with the department. When he left on calls, I'd just sit and listen to the pager. As I got older, I remember wanting to be with him, knowing what was going on. As a firefighter, it's always nice helping out your community and doing the things everybody else is afraid of doing."

Brookhaven

"It's very much a family affair," Brookhaven Volunteer Fire Department Chief Jimmy Lipscomb said. "Once you get into it, it seems the whole family gets in."

"He's taught me everything I know about this place," his son Adam Lipscomb said. "This is where we got a lot of our father-son bonding time. I take everything he says to me about this place to heart because I know everything he's telling me is right."

Jimmy Lipscomb, 49, has been a Brookhaven firefighter for 34 years. He's been a firefighter for the City of Morgantown for 14 years. Son Adam, 28, is a Brookhaven VFD captain. Son Zachary, 22, is a lieutenant with the department.

"The boys have been here since they were in diapers," Jimmy Lipscomb said. "With fundraisers and everything, if you weren't working your job, you were here."

Adam and Zach's grandfather Eldon Hagedorn has been with Brookhaven VFD for 35 years. He has two other grandsons, Larry and Brian Hagedorn, in the department.

Cheat Lake

Harvey Coffman and his son, Jason Christopher, proudly serve the Cheat Lake Volunteer Fire Department. Christopher is department chief.

"It makes me proud, it makes me happy" to have Christopher in the department, Coffman said. "I'm proud of him doing a community service. I wish more people would get involved. I'm real proud of Jason taking the responsibility of being chief. He does a real good job."

Christopher said, "I'm proud to be here to serve the community."

He begrudgingly admits he was a firefighter because of Coffman. "I guess it was kind of an influence," he said. "I was here anyway because he was here, and if you're going to be here, you might as well fight fires."

"It's kind of a family thing in the fire department," Christopher said. "If your dad's in it, you'll likely be in it."

Albright

Albright VFD Chief Eric Graham's sons have followed him into the department. Eric II -- also known as Bud -- is 25 and a nine-year veteran of the department. "Dad got me started in it," he said, "and growing up in it."

His brother Jesse is 22 and new to the department, though he admits, "I've been in it literally all my life."

"Jesse wanted to join when he turned 16," Chief Graham said, "but we didn't have a junior firefighter program." He admits it's rewarding "that you get somebody to follow you, and seeing Bud go through things as quickly as he did."

Bud Graham said he's proud of his dad's success, too. He's the hardest working man I've ever met in my life. He's always done what he had to, to support us and provide for us and he's given up stuff for us."

Graham's wife, Connie, is also an active firefighter in the AVFD.

Kingwood

Kingwood firefighter Matt Borror's father was a firefighter in Petersburg, where Matt grew up.

"My mom and dad always taught us to help the community, and to serve," he said. "It's pretty neat and means a lot to me that my son wants to do this."

Marty Borror, 18, joined KVFD in October. Matt said there's "a mix of pride and uneasiness" having his son along on fire calls. "The first time we went to a fire together I made sure everything was good to go. I checked his radio, I checked his belt. I don't check anyone else's belt or radio, but I checked his." It turned out to be a false alarm.

Marty said he joined the department "because Dad's been doing it for so long. I grew up with the guys here and I've always been interested in it since I was little." He said he's "proud to have a father in the fire service -- someone I can look up to."

There are three father-son sets in Kingwood's fire department. Chief Corky Thomas' sons, Chad and Logan, are firefighters. Engineer Joe Barlow has two sons in the department, and one in Tunnelton's.

Joe Barlow's son, Perry, 44, is assistant chief in Kingwood with 28 years in the department.

Another son, Marshall, 23, joined the department five years ago. Their brother, Craig, 36, is with Tunnelton VFD.

Joe Barlow has "40 or so years" in fire service, including time with Albright's department before he joined Kingwood's.

The Barlow sons get their desire to fight fires from both sides of the family. Their maternal grandfather, Walter Emery, was Albright's first fire chief.

Tunnelton

It's not always sons following fathers into volunteer fire departments. Tunnelton Fire Chief Franklin Schnopp's stepfather, Everett Barlow, answered Schnopp's call for more volunteers. Schnopp has been with the department for 10 years and chief "for going on six years."

"He got into it and wanted to know if I'd join," Barlow said.

Schnopp's mother, Bonnie Barlow, is also in the department and serves as safety officer. Everett Barlow is a captain.

He is the brother of Kingwood VFD engineer Joe Barlow.

"You see some bad situations but you're helping people and that's what it's all about," he said. "Sometimes the fires and wrecks we see are gruesome, but if we weren't there, who would go?"

Granville

Granville Chief Butch Renner has two sons in the department. Both C.J., 24, and Brian, 22, started at age 16 as junior firefighters. C.J. is now a captain; Brian, a second lieutenant.

"I enjoy having them in the department," Renner said. "It keeps them occupied and out of mischief, and I think they learn a lot of respect for other people and the community. It's a giving job."

Firefighting "has been in the family forever," Brian said. "My grandpa and his father were firefighters ... it's kind of in my blood. I like to help the community and I guess just the adrenaline rush you get running into a burning building. You can't get that anywhere else."

C.J. remembers "back when I was 4 or 5, my dad throwing me in the fire truck and going on calls.

"It means a lot to me that I'm able to help the people in my community. I enjoy it -- I don't know of anything else I'd rather do."

Working with his father "means a lot," he said, "because I can learn from him and learn how he did things and came up through it." The most important lesson his father has taught him, he said, is "to stay calm under stress. And sometimes I do, even though it is hard."

Fellowsville

George Wolfe, 76, is a founding member of Fellowsville VFD, joining in 1976. He has two sons in the department -- J.R., 47, assistant chief, and Harold, 42, who describes himself as "just a firefighter."

"It does me good," George Wolfe said, "because they're helping people. They're serving the public. In my opinion, a volunteer fireman is the best person in the world, not only in this whole squad but countywide. We do a lot of rescue, a lot of mutual aid."