Oct 7, 2018 5 min read

CANONSBURG – When a fire call is sent out in Canonsburg, it’s likely that Keith and Ken Flood, Tom Lawrence, Dave Rhome and Tim Solobay will be among the volunteer firefighters who respond.

They just might move a little slower than they used to.

The five, along with the late Mike Nixon, will be recognized today for 40 years of service – 240 years combined – with the Canonsburg Volunteer Fire Department.

Borough council will present each with a plaque for his accomplishment at the council meeting in the borough building at 6 p.m.

“I don’t think any of us ever thought we’d be here 40 years. We thought reaching 20 would be tough,” said Rhome.

On most Monday nights, the five still can be found at the fire station, where training is conducted and business meetings are held.

They’ve spent so many Mondays at the firehouse their wives, joked Lawrence, wouldn’t know what to do if they stayed home.

All of the men juggled holding full-time jobs and raising families while responding to fire runs, in all weather conditions and at any time of night or day.

“It was busy. You’d make the calls whenever you could,” said Ken Flood, a retired coal miner who worked at Consol Energy’s Enlow Fork Mine. “I shuffled kids to practice and games, worked, and responded to calls. It was hectic.”

For Solobay, a former state senator and state fire commissioner who is serving his second stint as fire chief, becoming a firefighter was about helping other people.

“I think there’s the community service side of it, the willingness to give back, and that’s hard to find now,” said Solobay. “Ultimately, it’s about wanting to help people, and we do.”

The firefighters also share a family legacy of firefighting.

Rhome’s father, Howard, was a member of the Canonsburg Fire Department for 58 years, and his brother, Dale, and son-in-law, Justin Smith, also have served.

The Floods’ father, William, a former Canonsburg police chief, was a member of Bridgeville Volunteer Fire Department.

Lawrence’s father, Carl, volunteered, and his son, Jake serves as captain with the fire department.

And Solobay’s son, Justin, served as a firefighter alongside his father until he moved to Maryland, where he volunteers with his local fire department.

Over the past 40 years, the fire department, and firefighting, have undergone significant changes.

“Technology has changed things big time,” said Keith Flood, noting advancements in equipment and apparatus including thermal imaging cameras, self-contained breathing apparatus, and compressed air foam.

Another change – for the worse – is a drop in the number of volunteer firefighters.

In 1978, when the group joined, there were an estimated 300,000 volunteer firefighters in Pennsylvania. Today, that number has plummeted to between 37,000 and 50,000 firefighters.

Solobay pointed out the financial value of volunteer firemen: An average volunteer firefighter would cost a community about $75,000 a year.

“The six of us, in our 40 years – 240 years of combined service – gave 18 million dollars worth of service to the fire department,” said Solobay. “And every year, the 25 members of this department provide $1.875 million in service.”

Over the years, the five, who remain close friends, have responded to thousands of calls, ranging from brush fires to major structure fires. They’ve handled fatal fires and fatal traffic accidents.

One that they all recall is the February 2012 fire that heavily damaged Sarris Candies.

The Washington County Hazardous Materials team helped scrub off the melted chocolate that covered firefighters.

The types of calls to which firefighters respond also has changed over the years.

“We used to respond mostly to fires and traffic accidents and, occasionally, flood situations. Now, we get calls for everything,” said Solobay. “It’s A to Z. Whatever the police can’t handle, the fire department gets called for.”

Ken Flood said those calls include children locked inside cars and getting their fingers stuck in bubble gum machines.

In their 40 years, there has been one fatality on duty – assistant fire chief Bob Smith suffered a heart attack.

There have been some serious injuries. Keith Flood was hurt twice. In 1996, he fell through a porch and broke his ribs and dislocated a shoulder. Three years later, he slipped on ice and tore the quadricep tendons from his right kneecap, an injury which has required multiple surgeries.

None of the five has plans to hang up their helmets – most still slide down the firepole to reach the fire trucks on the ground floor.

“It’s become a way of life for us,” said Lawrence. “We’ve done this for so long, I’m not sure any of us knows what we would do if we stopped. There are nights when I don’t want to answer a fire call. But I don’t want to be sitting at home or sitting some other place when that call comes in.”