The Inter-Mountain photo by Edgar Kelley Members of the Elkins Fire Department met with Elkins Mayor Jerry Marco for a proclamation signing on Friday to honor the EFD’s 125th anniversary. Gathered at the celebration include, from left, firefighters John Corcoran, Ralph Roth, Joe Chabut, Matt Ogden, Chief Steve Himes, Marco, Nick Hamrick and Jacob Greene

Elkins Mayor Jerry Marco, far right, talks about the history of the Elkins Fire Department Friday with, from left, former chief Joe Chabut, Matt Ogden and Chief Steve Himes.

ELKINS — Elkins Mayor Jerry Marco signed a proclamation Friday to recognize the Elkins Fire Department for its 125 years of service to the city and surrounding communities.

A host of firemen, including Chief Steve Himes, along with several Elkins city government officials gathered at the fire department for a ceremony.

“We are celebrating 125 years of our fire department serving the community,” Marco said. “These guys are the ultimate professionals and they always go above and beyond, to not only serve Elkins, but the greater Elkins area. I’m honored to be able to sign a proclamation to celebrate March 3, 2023 as Elkins Fire Department Day.”

Also attending Friday’s ceremony were City Council members Mike Hinchman of Second Ward, Chris Lowther of Third Ward and David Parker of Fifth Ward, along with City Attorney Gerri Roberts.

The Elkins Fire Department has played a vital role in the City of Elkins’ public safety infrastructure, working closely with other emergency services to ensure the safety and well-being of the community.

“Today is the official 125th anniversary of the organizing of this department,” Hines said. “It’s been really unique to look at some of the history and see how things used to be and what we have evolved into after 125 years.”  

Hines said the department will celebrate the special occasion with several other events throughout the year. 

“We want to have a larger public event later in the year to help celebrate this occasion,” Himes said. “We will probably have some representatives from the Fire Marshal’s Office and something on a little grander scale. We want to celebrate this all year long because 125 years doesn’t happen all the time. We are probably one of the oldest organized fire departments in the state.”

There have been many changes at the fire department over the past 125 years, and one EFD firefighter who has witnessed many of those transformations is former chief Joe Chabut, who has been with the department for 52 years.

“This department has made a lot of changes in the 50 years that I’ve been a part of it,” said Chabut, who joined the EFD in 1971. “We have improved greatly and we have way more calls than we used to. We used to run 50 calls a year and now we run around 700.

“Plus people don’t like to volunteer like they did, we used to have a waiting list for people to join the department — we just don’t have that anymore. But we’d like to get that picked back up to where we can at least have reserves so if somebody goes down we have someone to fill in for them. But it’s been wonderful and a great experience for me being with the department during my time here.”

The EFD has grown to a modern combination fire department with both full-time paid firefighters and committed volunteer firemen, all of whom respond to emergency calls with professionalism and courage.

“I encourage the community to thank all of our firefighters whenever they get the opportunity,” Marco said. “Nobody realizes all the hours these guys put in for their training, which definitely pays off. I’m grateful to honor them on the 125th anniversary and we hope for 125 more.”