| HIST |
About 1886, Sumter’s “unofficial” firefighters consisted of a small group of young men volunteers who organized a reel squad to protect the city’s growing property. ¶ Today, with 69 firefighters and about 45,000 residents, Sumter is far from the days of hand reels and hose bought by the volunteers of 1886. ¶ But between the past and present, a group of call firemen - or freelance firefighters - worked hand-in-hand with full-time firefighters to protect and serve. ¶ Sumter’s last known living call fireman - 78 year-old William “Bill” Weatherly- remembers those days fondly. ¶ While his memory has slowly faded with age and the onset of Parkinson’s disease, Weatherly can still recall how it felt to battle the blazes alongside Sumter’s firefighters and what it meant to do so. ¶ Exact dates of service have given way to just memories of larger events for Weatherly, such as the 1962 Claremont Hotel fire and the 1965 fire that gutted “The Item” building, but the Army veteran, local enterpreneur, avid American Legion participant, husband and father of five knows he worked for about 17 years as a call fireman before being suspended of his duties by former mayor W. A. “Bubba” McElveen Jr. when he took office in 1980. ¶ “I just happened to be the only one left,” he said of his end of service after Sumter’s Fire Department was eventually able to hire more full-time firefighters. ¶ Simply put, Weatherly became a call fireman at a pay of about $50 a month because his friends were already serving and invited him to become part of their team. ¶ In their prime, call firemen in Sumter County were called in to assist full-time firefights when their shifts gave way to one too many fires for their small staff to handle. ¶ “These men were very well-known and respected in the community,” said Robert M. Baker, a firefighter for 31 years and assistant operations chief at the time of his retirement in 1993. “We only had eight to nine firemen on a shift during that time and usually one to two of (the call firemen) were used everyday. They were considered part of the fire family.” ¶ The call firemen were heavily depended on, he said, because after large fires it usually took two to three hours to get equipment ready for the next run. ¶ In Weatherly’s time as a call fireman, the department was a place where men, even those not asociated with the fire department, could kick back, relax, play cards and tell stories together between fire calls. ¶ “Sometimes there would be 10 to 12 guys in there that had no connection with the Sumter FIre Department” Weatherly said. “At the time I started I was single so me and two to three others actually lived there. And we were happy to have the room.” ¶ Weatherly lived at the fire department on East Hampton Street until he and his wife Betty were married in 1957. ¶ Training for call firemen consisted of the same exercises full-time firefighters went through, but Weatherly said nothing could prepare him for his first fire. ¶ “The chief and assistant chief would tell you what to do,” he said of his first experience, a winter house fire on Harvin Street set by a wood stove. “In those days (firefighters) would go in where the house was burning. You couldn’t punch holes from the outside.” ¶ Cotton warehouse fires, he said, were the most common calls throughout his time with the fire department. ¶ “There was enough oxygen left in the bales to leave a spark,” Weatherly said. “Some of us would get introduced to the bigger fires in a hurry.” ¶ But one of his most memorable experiences was helping to battle a fire at the Claremont Hotel on the southeast corner of Bartlette and Main streets in the spring of 1962. ¶ “We went in and had to check the hotel for people,” Weatherly said. “They didn’t know what was going on and many of them were very scared. They didn’t want to leave.” ¶ According to Baker, both fire shifts were called in that day and men fought the blaze for six hours. The building was four stories high and presented very serious problems of rescue and firefighting, he said. ¶ Weatherly’s experience with the Sumter FIre Department was not limited to just fighting fire. ¶ After leaving the department in 1980, he continued to be on-call not only as a scuba diving instructor to many of the new fireman but also as a retriever of victims of crime and wrecks from local lakes and ponds. ¶ “The chief at the time said, ‘Give these boys some real good experience,’” Weatherly said. “So I did. But some didn’t get it as well as others.” ¶ Still, Weatherly feels the firefighters of today are just as willing to hit a blaze head on as they were in his days as a call fireman. ¶ “Be alert,” he said. “That’s really the only advice I can give them.” at death- he had 4 great-grandchildren Known as “Mr. American Legion” by decades of players, fans and members of the organization, his loss was felt this week as preparations for the tournament were under way. He loved to dance- which led him and his wife, Betty, to teach dance - and he willingly served on a variety of civic and community organizations. For more than 50 years, he was a member of Post 15, rising through the ranks to hold every office at the local level, he also served as state commander in 1979 and as national vice commander in 2000. He was a Boy Scout and Cub Scout leader, Dixie Youth baseball coach and a boxing coach as well as a swimming and scuba diving instructor. He was also a past and/or current member of the Sumter Kiwanis Club, Sumter Optimist Club, Sons of Confederate Veterans and Travelers Protective Association Post G. He was recognized in 2004 as Sumter’s last living “Call Fireman,” who battled several memorable blazes, including the fire at the Claremont Hotel in 1963 and the fire at The Item in 1965. [3, 5, 6] |
1926 - 2006 (79 years)
