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Former NMVFD Chief Returns To Station

By Staff | Dec 5, 2018

Photo provided New Martinsville Volunteer Fire Department Chief Rick Myers stands alongside Chief Bob DeLancey, who served the department from 1975 until the late 1980s.

The holiday season is often filled with special, magical, and heart-warming moments. For former New Martinsville Volunteer Fire Department Chief Bob DeLancey, such a happening occurred Saturday night at the Wetzel County Chamber of Commerce’s New Martinsville Christmas parade. The 85-year-old former chief was able to take a ride down the parade route in the department’s flashy new ladder truck. His evening ended with the breathtaking sight of the truck’s ladder extended.

Chief DeLancey joined the NMVFD in 1965 and served as chief from 1975 until approximately 1987. One of DeLancey’s three daughters, Deb DeLancey said her father was fire chief for almost all of her childhood. He gave up his position shortly after his wife died in 1987.

Deb said her father trained many of the current members of the fire department, who she compares to brothers. She said if she ever wanted to see her dad, she knew to stop by the fire department.

“It has always been his heart and passion,” Deb said of her father’s love for the fire department.

Deb said one of her siblings had taken their father to the fire department recently to see the new ladder truck.

“My dad has talked about that truck since then.”

Deb said Chief DeLancey’s special ride and tour of the truck Saturday was the idea of current chief Rick Myers.

“The amount of respect those guys showed my dad was amazing,” she said. “My dad was like a little boy again. That was the most life I have seen out of him in a very long time.”

“My sister drove him back home, and he talked about the fire department and big truck the whole way. They were so awesome to him. They blocked traffic and pulled the truck up and took the ladder up all the way for him.”

“The New Martinsville firemen and department have always and will always be our heroes and family,” Deb said.

“Chief DeLancey is a great man and was a great mentor and teacher for many of us that served under his command as the fire chief,” said Chief

Myers.

He added, “Now that I’m the chief I think a lot about the things he taught me and how he might handle situations I face.”