From just a few years to over six decades of service, volunteer firefighters of all ages came together Sunday as the Wellman Volunteer Fire Department celebrated its quasquicentennial.
This year marks the 125th anniversary of the Wellman Volunteer Fire Department and an open house was held Sunday to celebrate the department and meet with its volunteers. Assistant Chief Jim Seward has volunteered for 41 years, but he also spent much of his youth tagging along for fire calls, and considers himself a pyromaniac, “Always did, even when I was a kid liked to play with fires, our family went camping all the time I was always poking into fires. And then the fireworks I’m in charge of shooting off the fireworks for the Fourth of July every year.”
It was Seward who suggested Wellman City Council member Tracy Owens join 23 years ago, “It was nerve wracking my first week we had two major calls which made you really question if you wanted to be a fireman just from what we ran into at those times but it’s a good thing, we do a lot of good for the community.”
Owens’ sons Trever and Zach also volunteer on the department. Seward and Owens were honored for their years in the department, as well as Jack Seward Sr. for 65 years, Jim Millice for 59 years, John Kauffman for 31 years, Glenn Rowe for 30 years, and Jimmy Miller for 26 years.