Williams celebrates 30 years with Carthage Fire Department

Thursday, April 24, 2008, marks 30 years of service at the Carthage Fire Department for Roger Williams, battalion chief with the department.

If you’re looking to point the blame or wanting to applaud the person that got Williams into firefighting, look no further than Carthaginian Floyd Graham.

“I’d love to tell you it was always what I wanted to do,” Williams said. “But, there was just an occasion, and I give credit to a fireman who was here at the time because he kind of put the idea in my mind. From the point that he did, I just pursued it from there. His name is Floyd Graham, he’s still here in town and lives down on River Street.

“Floyd had been here a long time and I worked in a lumber yard just down the street from the station and he came in and out a lot. One day he mentioned to me if I ever thought about being a fireman. Honestly, it just wasn’t something I thought I would ever do. But then I looked at it a little bit and I thought that looks like a pretty neat thing to try. And at that time in my life I didn’t have a lot to lose.”

One of the most memorable moments for Williams, during his service, was a sad one as he reflected on a time that a fellow firefighter was killed in the line of duty.

“The most memorable – it’s not a great memory – but the loss of Steve Fierro,” said Williams. “That will always be one thing – that period of time – there’s a point when you want to forget it, but you never will.

“I was on duty that day and spent the morning here with him and then we ate lunch together. We were doing dishes just prior to the call. That’s something I will never forget. I hope it never happens again.

“From when I came to work here in 1978 to that day, I don’t think I ever realized just how vulnerable we can be. I’ve had moments, you know, but that is kind of when I just realized, you aren’t Superman. It’s a pretty awesome job that we have and we‘re expected to do all we can. Sometimes we just can’t.”

When the station moved from Grant Street in 1981 to its current location at the corner of Garrison and Chestnut, Williams said it was an overwhelming experience.

“We were in an old building downtown that the snow blew in the windows and it was cold, it was hot,” said Williams. “But, I can’t say that I didn’t enjoy myself down there because those were my early days. We had a lot of fun in the old building.

“The day we left that old building in procession and came down here and moved into (our current station), I can remember how overwhelming it was. I mean it was just an awesome feeling – we didn’t use the word awesome back in those days – but it was so neat. We drove down the street and people were watching all the trucks in the line and we came down and backed those trucks in this new building. It’s hard to describe what that was like to go from where we were at and suddenly we were in a whole different world. It was quite a change.”

A few other things that have changed in Williams 30 years is that the old station was equipped with a pole and a fire phone.

“When I came to work here we had what we called the fire phone,” Williams said. “The phone rang like a regular phone with a big bell. Somebody had to answer it and you were talking directly to whoever needed help.

“When it came to sliding down the pole, if you couldn’t hug it hard enough with your arms and happened to get your hands on it and they were damp, they would drag and essentially burn or catch.

“One day around noon we got a call and I went and slid the pole and as I came down my hands caught. I don’t remember how far off the ground I was, but they caught enough that I lost my grip and I hit the floor hard flat-footed. I thought oh man, I hope I don’t have to go on this call cause I don’t think I can walk.”

As it turned out the call was just somebody wanting information.

“That was the thing about the old fire phone in the old days, Williams said. “You could get just about any kind of call.

Believe it or not, falling off the fire pole was not one of Williams’ most embarrassing moments.

“One of my most embarrassing moments was getting woken up early in the morning by a phone call,” Williams said. “A friend of mine had wanted me to go fishing with him. We were going to go fishing that morning and he called on the fire phone before everyone was out of bed to check and see what time I was wanting to go. My captain was standing there on the phone looking at me and saying, yeah he’s here why don’t you call him back on the other line. And we had all jumped up and ran and slid the pole and were getting ready.”

When Williams was asked how much longer he plans to be a firefighter he replied,
“I came to work here when I was 21 years old and I’m 51 years old now. Sometimes I think it will be tomorrow, other times I don’t know. I have a personal little joke and I tell some of the guys  – meet me at the car, I’ll have my walker, help me in.”

Roger and his wife, Roberta, have three children: Danny, Derek and Melissa. Coming this summer, he will have eight grandchildren.