No. 18 Vol. 8
My Life Publications • 973-809-4784
August 2022
Wayne Firefighting Trio Celebrates 50 Years Volunteering
W
By Steve Sears ayne P.O.L. Fire Company No. 2 volunteer firefighters, John Gabriel, Kurt Gough, and Frank Velardi, began volunteering for the Wayne Fire Department in 1972, and on March 19, 2022 were honored by the township for their half century of service. Does it seem like 50 years for the trio? “Not to me,” says Gough, the current Vice-President of Wayne P.O.L. Fire Company #2. “We’re still doing a lot. That’s the thing. We stay busy with it because we love it so much.” “We’re still doing the same things we did 50 years ago,” Velardi says. During that evening’s party afterwards, Wayne P.O.L. Fire Company No. 2 also celebrated 100 years since its founding in 1922. Velardi and Gough are both 64, and Gabriel is 66. Gough’s dad, uncle, brother and cousins were firefighters, as were Velardi’s father and uncle. “It’s family,” says Gough. “It’s in the blood.” “Kurt and I grew up living next door to each other,” says Velardi. “Like Kurt said, his father was a fireman, my father and my
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uncle were fireman, and his uncle was a fireman. At one time in the 1970s our fire company had five sets of brothers. It’s something we grew up with. And John Gabriel - for that matter, too - his grandfather, father, uncle, and his cousin were firefighters. It’s in the blood. It’s hereditary.” “It’s all been good,” says Gough about the 50 years. “We enjoy what we do around the firehouse, and not just fighting fires, but running the day-today operations. We had a meeting last night, paid our bills, and we do what we have to do to raise money,
and we do it all together. It’s not just fighting fires. It’s everything else that goes with it. And we’ve all been doing it all together for all those years.” Velardi adds, “It’s like Kurt said; it’s not just the firehouse. We’ve been through girlfriends, wives, kids, John with his grandkids now. The family is extended beyond the firehouse. We’ve grown up, from kids to old men now.” For Gabriel, Gough, and Velardi, there has been much change in the 50 years they’ve been volunteering, and Gough and Velardi mention some
of the key differences. “The change in the fire department, just like there’s been in society in general, is with computers. And the young people today are different than, the way we like to term it, the ‘older people’ in our fire company,” Gough says. “We all get along great, but they have their ideas and we have ours, and computers have changed the world. We got a new ladder truck in just a few weeks ago and, believe it or not, that thing is loaded with computers. So, it’s for the good, but you really continued on page 2
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