Wednesday, Oct. 10, 2007
Nearly 40 former firefighters returned to Bethesda Fire Department Station 20 to celebrate its 50th anniversary Saturday.
National, county and state representatives, along with former and current firefighters, met to rededicate the station on Old Georgetown Road and Cedar Lane, nearly 50 years to the day of its opening, Oct. 5, 1957.
Firefighters traveled from as far as Delaware and South Carolina for the anniversary. They looked around their old station, checking out the new equipment, catching up with old buddies and looking at old photographs lining the walls.
Stories about former fire chiefs and Saturday night roast beef dinners filled the air. The most overwhelming characteristic of the day was camaraderie.
‘‘Everyone worked together and helped each other out,” said Kenny Shipley, of Damascus, who worked at the station in the early 1960s. ‘‘No one ever let anyone fail.”
‘‘A lot of old memories are coming back,” said Gary Flook, of Damascus, who worked at the station for almost 15 years in the 1970s and ‘80s. ‘‘There was so much camaraderie in this station.”
Other former Station 20 firefighters reminisced similarly.
‘‘I can’t think of nothing bad about this station,” said Frank Hall, who was fire chief of the station in the late 1950s and early 1960s, and now lives in Aspen Hill. ‘‘Everyone was happy, and I still remain friends with most of them.”
According to Capt. Mike Redding, Station 20’s commander, the station was conceived in the mid-1950s because Bethesda’s first station, on the corner of Old Georgetown Road and Woodmont Avenue in downtown Bethesda, was too small for the growing community.
Controversy surrounded the station’s construction however, and the building remained in limbo for two years following a denial by the County Council.
In 1957, by a 4-3 vote, the building was eventually approved by the council, although some council members thought the new building was too close to the old station.
The new station was built on land donated by the National Institutes of Health, which was highlighted by some of the speakers.
‘‘This building is a testament that both federal and local governments can work together,” said U.S. Rep. Christopher Van Hollen Jr. (D-Dist. 8) of Kensington. ‘‘It’s been 50 years of cooperation between federal, state and local [governments], but mostly a cooperation between the men and women who risk their lives.”
Since its opening, the number of firefighters employed by the station has actually decreased, from 10-person shifts in the late 1950s, to only three-person shifts now, because of an increased number of stations in the county, according to Redding.
Changes to the building over the years have been minimal, but meaningful. A second garage bay door was added in 1973 to accommodate more vehicles, and the kitchen, a focal point in many fire stations, was moved into a more open and social area the same year.
And while the building hasn’t changed much over the past 50 years, the work of a firefighter, at least in the eyes of one retired fireman, has changed greatly.
‘‘Things are extremely more difficult,” said Len Kober, who was trained at the station in the early 1960s and now lives in Rehoboth Beach, Del. ‘‘They [the firefighters] go through a lot more training, which is good for the men and the community. We didn’t even have to carry air packs for the first year I was here.”
