Retired firefighter misses friends

Published:  Saturday, December 6, 2008 (1 year, 3 months ago)
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Retired Delphos firefighter Randy Carder has saved some of the thank-you notes school students gave him in the past after he taught fire safety classes.By MARY M. GROTHAUSE
The Delphos Herald

DELPHOS — Retired Delphos firefighter Randy Carder may miss the people he worked with but he doesn’t miss having to get out of bed in the middle of the night to respond to a fire or other emergency situations.
Carder, who retired Nov. 13, first joined the fire department as a volunteer in 1987. Due to the retirement of Robert Osburn, a vacancy was open; Carder passed the test and was hired in 1988.
“I was hired during the same time period as volunteers Paul Carder, Tim Klaus, Joe Shumaker and Denny Osting came on board. I actually worked under five fire chiefs; Don Schimmoeller, John Clark, Acting Chief Stan Wiechart, Wayne Suever and Dave McNeal,” he recalled.
On Dec. 5, 1990, Carder was promoted to platoon chief. In 1993, all fire personnel were required to attain at least emergency medical technician status so they were qualified as first responders to go to emergency medical situations prior to the arrival of an ambulance crew.
Carder couldn’t say enough about the need for the Delphos Volunteer Association’s assistance.
“When the two on-duty firefighters respond to a fire or accident, the priorities are saving the life of the injured, securing the scene and traffic control. We tell the captains of the volunteer squad what we need and they organize it and get it done. Training together is a key part and we train as well with our mutual aid departments, Fort Jennings, Middle Point, Ottoville, Spencerville and Elida,” he said.
Some of the more notable fire calls Carder responded to were the RTH fire on North Main Street, which he said burned for days with hot spots because of all the rubber; the fatal Broaddus garage fire; and the Busy Bee fire because the metal building retained the heat and was filled with objects like oxygen tanks.
While Carder was on medical leave prior to his retirement with disability, he got a taste of what life would be like after retirement.
“When they were re-programming all the portable radios and pagers, they kept mine, and I didn’t miss it as much as I thought I would,” he laughed.
So far, Carder is filling his retirement hours as an independent agent for Primerica Financial Services. But those firefighter memories linger on with a curio cabinet full of firefighter figurines, plaques and ornaments. A special memento from the Franklin first-grade classes of Mrs. Suever and Mrs. Stockwell in 1999 rates high honors with Carder.
“It’s been a tradition that the kids write thank-you notes after we’ve been to the school for fire safety classes,” he said.
He still has those notes and a big red paper fire truck signed by all the children who remembered their local firefighter.

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