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Retired fire chief 'living for today'

By Courtney Llewellyn

Reminder Assistant Editor



EAST LONGMEADOW What does a firefighter do after he or she retires? Find another job? Develop a new hobby? Sit back and relax?

If that firefighter is P. Robert Wallace, former Fire Chief for the town of East Longmeadow, he's thinking of doing all three.

Bob Wallace spoke with Reminder Publications a week after his retirement became official and approximately half an hour before a Rotary Club meeting. Although he's retired, he's not slowing down yet.

"It's not going to set in for a while," he said on Thursday. "I usually take New Year's off so this only feels like one extra day off for me."

Wallace officially ended his tenure as a firefighter and as a fire chief on Dec. 28 at 3:30 p.m. when Richard Brady was sworn in, taking his place. Brady said it would be hard to fill Wallace's shoes and that his four weeks training with Wallace were "invaluable."

His fellow firefighters are what Wallace will miss the most about the job. "The people were the best," he said. "The camaraderie and the teamwork were the best. It didn't matter if you were call or full-time."

There are things he will not miss the bad car crashes, the big fires and waking up at 2 a.m. on a frigid winter night, scraping off the car and heading to the firehouse to deal with an emergency, for example.

"There were sad points," he stated. "They were tough, because we are human too."

Born and raised in Agawam, Wallace said when he was a child he used to chase fire trucks on his bicycle. "I've always had it in me," he laughed. From 1967 to 1970, he served as a call firefighter for the Agawam Fire Department while working full-time at Adams & Ruxton Construction Company in West Springfield. It was during his time with the Agawam department that he first met ELFD Chief Forrest Goodrich.

"Once I reached the peak at the construction job, I figured it was time to try something different," he explained. He worked 18 1/2 years with Adams & Ruxton. He moved to East Longmeadow in November 1970. By July 1971, he was a call firefighter for the town. Wallace became a full-time firefighter on July 1, 1984.

"I was one of the last ones to attend the Springfield drill school," Wallace said. Firefighters in training must now travel to Stowe to receive training. He started as a firefighter before becoming a lieutenant, then a captain, before being appointed chief in 1992.

"It was great to serve East Longmeadow for 36 1/2 years, with 16 years as chief," Wallace stated. "Many people have come and gone in that time but the motivation and the dedication have never wavered. I feel pride and honor having served here."

During his time as a firefighter, Wallace has seen changes not only in faces but in equipment and technology. "Stuff has changed so much," he said. "We used to wear rubber coats, rubber boots and metal helmets. Now we use Kevlar, we all have oxygen tanks." He added that as firefighters, men and women no longer douse brush and home fires they deal with hazardous materials, serve as emergency medical technicians and deal with carbon monoxide issues.

"There have been big changes over the past 25 years," he said.

But now Wallace doesn't have to worry about changes like that. What he's concerned with is babysitting his seven grandchildren, remodeling the interior of his home and vacationing in Florida this February.

"My babysitting duties started yesterday [Jan. 2]," he laughed, "and I have another one tomorrow." He's looking forward to spending more quality time with his grandchildren and not worrying about leaving them whenever a pager went off.

"I get to do what I want when I want now," Wallace said.

Several offers for full and part-time jobs have come from friends, but Wallace said he has no plans to work again right now. "I have all my ducks in a row so I don't have to work again, but I may do a few hours a day somewhere so I don't get rusty," he explained.

He is currently a member of the Rotary Club, the American Legion and the John Boyle O'Reilly Club, so he will have some ongoing obligations in retirement.

Although he turned in his radios when he retired, Wallace said he'll be curious when he hears a truck go by. "I'll wonder where it's going, what it's doing," he said.

What's the best part about being a retired firefighter, though? "I'm not living for tomorrow, worrying about what could happen," Wallace said. "I'm living for today."