The BIG Announcement

My husband, after 37 years with the Roanoke Fire-EMS Department in Roanoke, Virginia, has retired to work on the farm and install septic systems.

He was a Battalion Chief for the last 10 years of his career. He started there February 15, 1983 and rose through the ranks to run half the city when he was on shift.

He was the second-longest serving firefighter in the department when he retired. One other man has been there a few months longer. He takes with him a lifetime of experience and memory.

Battalion Chief James Firebaugh, 2019

I remember when he took the job. We were dating, and he would not propose to me until he had found work that was more permanent than farming and digging septic tanks with his father. (Interestingly enough, that is now what he will be doing.)

His grandfather passed away when he was about two weeks into the job, and he had to take funeral leave right away. He had not accrued vacation when we married in November, so we married over a four-day break.

His work schedule was basically 10 days of 24-hour shifts during the month. However, they rotated and went like this: Monday, Wednesday, Friday - 4 days off - Wednesday, Friday, Sunday - 4 days off - Friday, Sunday, Tuesday - 4 days off . . . hopefully one gets the idea of how that went.

Spending 10 days a month alone did not bother me generally, although it was a given that if the hot water heater was going to go out or something else around the house was going to go whacky, or if I were to become very sick, it would be a day when he was at the fire station and not on one of his off days.

During his off days, he helped his father farm and install septic tanks just as he always did. For the first 10 years of our marriage, he also served a volunteer firefighter with the Fincastle Fire Department, and I was very glad when he gave that up. We saw each other at night and then of course not every night because he was at work. I also had classes at night and then I worked a lot at night after I became a full-time writer/freelance news reporter, so our time together was minimal, really.

Until he injured his arm in 2014, we had not spent more than three weeks together without him having to go back to work. While he recovered from that injury, which occurred on the farm and not at the firehouse, we were together about two months. In late November, he had surgery on his ankle, and we have now spent all of these nights together. As my stepmother said, "You didn't kill him, so that is a good thing."

During his career, there were several incidents that I recall. The first is the Flood of 1985. Roanoke City and surrounding areas drowned in over 11 inches of rain, and he was on duty. I was out at a doctor's appointment. We had no cellphones back then, so it was hours before we each found out the other was ok. He and his crew made some daring and heroic rescues at that time, using the ladder truck to reach out over raging waters to pluck people from streams.

Here's a youtube video about the flood.

He also worked what is locally known as the TAAP fire, when the Total Action Against Poverty building burned down. It was cold and the firefighters all had icicles hanging from their gear as they fought the blaze. I couldn't find any photos of that, though I'm sure there are some somewhere.

Around that same time, Chief Harry McKinney passed away. I attended the funeral because his daughter was my math teacher in high school and we have kept in touch all of these years. I remember feeling so out of place sitting with my husband amongst that sea of blue uniforms. My husband had a lot of respect for Chief McKinney. There is no funeral like a fire service funeral, I must say.

Of course there are many other fires, wrecks, etc., that he worked throughout his career. I have no idea how many people he watched die, how many people he saved when he was working as a medic - those statistics may be kept somewhere, but I doubt it. He was a citizen doing his civic duty, on the job taking care of his community.

This is what one of the firefighters wrote about him on a page dedicated to remembering the firefighters:

"James has served as the Northside Battalion Chief (Battalion 2) for the last ten years. He has served many roles during his tenure and leaves large shoes to fill. James served as chair of the apparatus committee and was directly involved in the design of many of our trucks throughout the years. He also served as one of the original members of our regional Hazardous Materials Response Team. James, regardless of his or other people’s rank, has always been someone that could be easily spoken to and has always been a force to be reckoned with in the firehouse. He has carried a strong presence on fire scenes when a job needed to be done but isn’t one to stand available for a photo."

There aren't many pictures of him at fire scenes. Usually he has his back to his camera in the ones he is in. He never sought recognition for anything he did.

Having a square-off with another battalion chief, apparently.

He's the guy on the far right hanging on the hose and shouting orders. Best guess is this was when he was a captain.

He had intended to return to work following his ankle surgery. His recovery from that took longer than he anticipated, and then the Covid-45 virus hit. He decided he could not risk bringing that home to me (I have asthma) or to his 86-year-old mother, whom he checks on every day. She lives alone but he takes her the newspaper and the mail and checks on her a lot. When we heard the news that the virus had hit the fire department in Lynchburg, I think that sealed it for him.

So his career comes to an end, and he will be back where he started, really, farming full time and running a septic installation business. He loves to do that work, so he will be happy.

I have grown used to having him about the house more, so I don't think I will hit him upside the head with anything. The Covid-45 virus has interrupted our schedules, but it has interrupted the whole world's schedule. Eventually we will find a flow that works for us.

My heart is full of pride for all that he has accomplished. It is no easy task to go from firefighter to battalion chief.

May he enjoy his new life without the fire service and all the stress that brought him.