Highland Hose in Tarentum celebrates a pair of 50-year members

Highland Hose lifetime member Allen Simmers recalls hanging around the Tarentum fire station nearly every day as a young child.

“They would take us kids to Pirates games and have Christmas parties, all kinds of stuff,” said Simmers, 72. “My dad was a member and I just grew up there.”

Fellow member Jim Huey, 68, also said he was “born into the place,” following in the footsteps of his firefighting dad and grandfather.

The pair on Monday was honored for 50 years of service during a celebration at the fire hall along East Eighth Avenue. State Sen. Lindsey Williams, D-West View, joined the festivities to award the two volunteers with citations.

“This kind of honor is increasingly rare,” fire company President Mike Koval said.

“Not many people do anything for 50 years anymore. It’s prestigious.”

Highland Hose was founded in 1894 and maintains a roster of 35 members.

Simmers joined the volunteer company on April 26, 1971. Huey joined shortly after on Oct. 17.

“It’s been a lot of fun, but boy, this makes you feel old,” Huey said.

The Tarentum native said that through the fire company, he’s made friendships that have lasted decades.

“There’s a lot of good people there,” he said. “I had three attendants in my wedding and two were firemen.”

Simmers, too, recounted his younger years at the department with nostalgia.

“You make a lot of friends not only in your fire department but with the neighboring ones,” Simmers, an Allegheny Ludlum retiree, said.

“When I grew up, we had fire department softball teams and bowling leagues. It was a group that really stayed together.”

Bonds were formed during hard times too, both men said. Firefighters battle blazes, respond to car wrecks and help rescue people in need, among other duties.

“We saw a lot of scary stuff,” Huey said. “There were several times that I thought ‘this is too much.’ ”

His worst memory is from the 1991 West Interior Fire in Brackenridge when four Hilltop Hose firefighters lost their lives.

“Our aerial truck normally rolls right along with Pioneer Hose,” Huey said. “Our truck was out of service and Hilltop went.

“On any given day, I know that could’ve been any one of us.”

Simmers said younger firefighters lean on their older counterparts during tough times.

“You see all kinds of things, but you stick with it because you want to help,” he said.

“Older members, if they saw you were thinking about something too much, would take you aside and they really mentored us.”

Huey and Simmers no longer run into burning buildings but both stay active with executive duties.

Huey, a resident of Garfield Street, serves on the Highlands Emergency Service Alliance, nine years as president.

“I’m most proud that I served as chairman during the construction of our building to house our aerial truck,” he said.

The building sits a few doors down from the fire station.

A lung cancer survivor, Huey limits his schedule to protect his health.

“When I’m around the station too much, I still want to jump on the truck,” he said.

Simmers, who relocated to Venango County, returns to Tarentum once a month as the treasurer/secretary of the Tarentum Fire Relief Association.

“Everyone should volunteer with something during your life and keep with it as long as you possibly can,” he said. “I chose the right thing.”