Bergen Record
By Elizabeth Llorente, Record Staff Writer
Date: 03-18-1992, Wednesday
Between them, Sidney Hagan and Victor Butterfield have battled a
century of fires in Westwood.
The borough is honoring the two veterans with ceremonies for the
50 years each has contributed to the Volunteer Fire Department.
Of the hundreds who have served as volunteer firefighters, fewer
than 10 have contributed 50 years or more.
Hagan and Butterfield, both 74, remain serene in the face of all
the fuss over their milestone. They see firefighting as just a job
they're still dedicated to -- a way to serve the borough where
they have lived almost all their lives.
Both men started out when there was more open space than developed
land in the borough and the typical alarm was a brush fire.
While working in a hardware store, Butterfield decided to join the
department after listening to co-workers who were volunteers talk
about the job with such devotion.
"We worked right across the street from the firehouse," said
Butterfield. "I got to know the guys, and it seemed like something
I'd like to do."
Hagan felt destined to fight fires.
"I had two brothers in the Fire Department, and I just decided to
do it, too," he said.
Christopher Mayer, the department's first assistant chief, hailed
the two veteran's dedication to a dangerous and demanding job.
"It's very stressful," said Mayer, who noted that he was born the
year Hagan became the borough fire chief -- 1958. "I know I won't
be serving 50 years. It's hard on a family."
The department gets an average of about 240 calls a year for fires
as well as propane tank leaks, gas leaks, trapped individuals, and
other incidents.
Although no one has kept a tally, Mayer estimated that Hagan and
Butterfield have responded to thousands of calls over their years
of service.
Hagan said an understanding family and employer are critical to a
volunteer firefighter.
"You just have to drop everything and go when the alarm goes off,"
he said. "You're on a 24-hour shift."
William Quinn, a firefighter and the department's fire-prevention
officer, added: "You could go from sitting in your living room,
watching TV with your feet up on the sofa, to a life-and-death
situation in seconds. It's tough."
Quinn said that each year, about 120 firefighters nationwide die
in the line of duty, and more than 100,000 are injured.
The junior firefighters said Hagan and Butterfield offer the
younger members in the department a sense of control at fire
scenes.
"We look to them for calm," said Quinn. "They've seen what we see
for the first time a hundred times before, and they tell us: `OK,
this is how you handle this.'"
"If we ever see worried looks on their faces, then we get scared,"
said Quinn.
Hagan and Butterfield say they have seen firefighting change
significantly since their rookie days in the 1940s.
"The only thing that hasn't changed is that we still rely on plain
old water," said Hagan.
They miss some of the ways firefighting has changed -- but some
artifacts, they said, they'd just as soon forget.
Hagan and Butterfield recall with no nostalgia the first
firefighting suits they wore -- rubber coats with no lining that
got intensely hot in raging blazes.
"You could really feel the heat," said Hagan. "Today it's better,
but you're all bagged up" like an astronaut, he said.
Today's water-pumping equipment is a godsend, said both
firefighters. They remember how, in their early days, they had to
pump water out of a brook.
One thing they miss from the old days is when county fire
officials went to individual firehouses to conduct training.
"Now we have to travel to Mahwah," where the Bergen County Police
and Fire Academy is located, said Hagan with a groan.
Neither is ready to pack up his uniform and turn off his fire
radio any time soon.
Butterfield said he'd like to keep fighting fires through the
borough's centennial in 1994.
Hagan, however, sees no conclusion to his career.
"I'm just getting started in the second 50 years of firefighting,"
he said.
