By Tricia Pursell
HUMMELS WHARF — He was 4 years old when he put on his first uniform and marched in a fireman’s parade.
Now, decades later, Hummels Wharf Fire Company Deputy Chief John “Jack” Grove still is active.
“Nobody ever asked me to join the company,” Grove said. “You were never told you had to.”
It was just something he always knew, and always wanted to be a part of.
In 2012, his family will have been active in fire service for a century. His grandfather joined in 1912.
“We lived and breathed the fire company,” Grove said.
He was voted into membership with the Conemaugh Fire Department when he was 17. His three brothers are still involved in fire service there.
His father and two uncles were serving as chiefs at the time he joined.
“They were good role models,” he said.
In his 45 years of service, Grove said he’s run the gamut of fighting fires that spread to whole city blocks, to industrial fires to flaming gasoline tankers.
“I have a very understanding wife,” he said. “When I say I’m going somewhere, she just waves.”
He serves as a training coordinator for fire and emergency medical services for Snyder County, as emergency management coordinator for Monroe Township and as deputy chief and spokesman for the Hummels Wharf Fire Company, which includes writing grant applications and dealing with the media.
How does he do it all?
“Luckily, I’m retired,” he said with a smile.
Formerly the assistant principal at Selinsgrove Area High School for 25 years, he said fighting fires was a welcome distraction from what he calls one of the toughest jobs around.
“It was my former relaxation,” he said. “Every time the tones went off, I could just set it aside.”
“Sometimes, I think that kept my sanity,” he added.
However, emergency service also has its drawbacks. “You get tired, worn out, mentally drained,” he said.
So why does he keep doing it?
“There are days I ask myself the same question,” he said as he looked up and smiled slightly.
But then there are other days in which he finds great rewards.
For example, as a state fire instructor, with emeritus status, he gets to teach the ropes to new volunteers.
And he takes pride in all the work he and others have done recently to renovate the company’s new building along the Old Trail. The volunteers now have all new apparatus and a new truck room, filled with two engines, a tanker, a reserve engine, squad vehicle and an amphibious vehicle.
The department has 20 active members and averages about seven people per call.
