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Cabin John firefighters celebrate 75

Wednesday, April 26, 2006

Click here to enlarge this photo Chris Rossi⁄The Gazette (From left) Gov. Robert Ehrlich honors Fire Chief Jim Seavey, who was joined by boyhood friend John Huntsman, Utah’s governor. Click here to enlarge this photo Chris Rossi⁄The Gazette The 75th anniversary of the Cabin John Volunteer Fire Department drew two sitting state governors, including Maryland Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr., to a celebration Saturday in Bethesda.

Maryland Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. traveled from Annapolis to thank the members of Cabin John Companies Nos. 10 and 30 for their selfless dedication to protection of lives and property.

Then Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr., who flew in from Utah, delivered his congratulations to the fire company headed by his boyhood friend, Fire Chief Jim Seavey.

Seavey, 46, who happens to celebrate his own 30th anniversary as a firefighter this year, awaited his old friend’s remarks with a touch of trepidation.

‘‘On the one hand, I was so touched that [Huntsman] came to the ceremony. On the other hand, I didn’t want it to turn into the ‘Jimmy Seavey Show,’” he said.

As it turned out, the Utah governor did share a few memories of growing up in Westmoreland Hills in Bethesda.

‘‘He told one funny story about how the two boys would sit in [a car] and pretend to respond to fire calls,” said Mary Seavey, wife of the fire chief. ‘‘Jim was just born to be firefighter.”

Between the ages of 11 and 14, the two boys ran the ‘‘J & J Lawn Service” and used push mowers to cut an average of 20 lawns a week.

But the two friends lost touch when the Huntsman family moved to Utah. In 2004, when Seavey heard his old buddy had been elected governor of Utah, he e-mailed an invitation to the party.

Much to his surprise, the new governor accepted.

‘‘I am here because I believe in what you do,” Huntsman told the crowd of more than 300 attending the party at the Bethesda North Hotel and Conference Center. ‘‘What really matters in the end is service; service to our country and our community.”

The department started in 1930 with just 11 members and one truck at Station 10, at the corner of Seven Locks Road and MacArthur Boulevard. It now numbers 70 members, includes Station 10 on River Road in Potomac and responds to calls from Cabin John, West Bethesda and Potomac along with swift water response on the Potomac River.

Seavey, who also serves as a lieutenant with the District of Columbia Fire Department, said the company experienced something of a resurgence following 9⁄11.

‘‘We’ve gained something like 30 volunteers,” he said. ‘‘People want to help, to get involved.”

Many retired members and friends of the department traveled back to Maryland for the celebration, including Frank-Michael Gormanns, a fire chief from Halstenbeck, Germany, and another longtime friend of Seavey.

‘‘We met 15 years ago and I come every year to ride with him,” Gormanns said. ‘‘Fire is the same everywhere so there is no difference in how they are fought around the world.”

While members of Cabin John partied in Bethesda Saturday night, volunteers from other stations in the county covered for them.

‘‘We always help each other out,” said Steve Richter, from Sandy Spring Volunteer Fire Department, who was ready to respond to Cabin John Rescue calls along with volunteers from the Rockville and Upper Montgomery County Fire Departments.

One absent member of the company, Army Specialist Michael Simmons, was awarded the Service to the Nation Award by the company and received a standing ovation from his fellow firefighters.

‘‘We are all a big family,” said Cathy Windfield-Jones, wife of Cabin John Deputy Chief Tom Jones. ‘‘There isn’t anything these people wouldn’t do for each other.”

— Staff Writer Peggy Vaughn contributed to this story