About 16 years ago, Bob Walker’s wife volunteered him as a member of the South Green Lake Volunteer Fire Department.
Having had 30 years’ experience as an aircraft mechanic, Walker said he accepted the job as maintenance officer even though his experience was with planes and “had no bearing on the trucks.”
“When I joined the fire department, I had no experience in heavy-duty mechanics. I always thought fire trucks were much more intricate than 747s,” he said.
Walker, who just retired from the department, said his first maintenance job was working on the signal lights for the old tender. His new job was “to keep an eye on general maintenance.”
The biggest issue has been with the air brakes system on pumper 2 as “that was all Greek to me.” He noted everyone who wanted to drive pumper or tender had to pass an air-brakes endorsement course. Walker took the course, but said the old tender never had problems with air brakes.
He added if there were issues with pumps, the fire department brought in an expert to look after them. “I had to fix a few valves, but other than that, we didn’t have many problems with the pumps.”
Noting there are a number of men in the department who worked as mechanics, Walker said he got some help from them. “Art Groves knew a lot about trucks and he helped me a lot. Brian Wagner was a heavy-duty mechanic who helped me out when I needed a little extra muscle, or we would look after different jobs.”
Groves also recently retired, while Wagner is taking on the role of maintenance officer. “He’ll do a good job with that,” Walker said. “He knows the systems and he has [experience].”
Walker retired because he was having issues with his back. “It’s nothing serious, but I get tired when I do anything,” he said. “Even during a two-hour practice and climbing up and down on the truck with a hose and I’m done for the day. I was concerned when we had that rehab meeting and they were talking about dehydration. That’s when it made me realize that I would be in the rehab tent more than I would be on the line. That concerned me a little bit.
“That’s when I decided at that point, I was going to take an early retirement. I figured that after 15 years, I needed a little bit more time for myself.”
Asked about his fondest memories, Walker said “just working with all of the guys; it was more like having fun.”