Former Fire Chief Has Served Noank For Decades

After more than 60 years, Richard Latham still keeps a pager on his bedside table in case someone needs him.

Latham, 83, retired as chief of the Noank Fire Department in 1997. But he still answers calls, advises the chief and keeps the firefighter's prayer over his bed.

"There are always things to do," said Latham. "Get equipment, straighten out the hose, keep the badges" of firefighters in a building.

The Noank Fire Department has about 25 active volunteers, but they can't all get to calls, because they work or are out of town.

So Latham stays on. He goes out on calls during the day, although not into burning buildings anymore. His doctor told him to leave that to the younger men.

Latham was born and raised in Noank. His father was a firefighter for a time, and his father was a firefighter.

Latham joined the department in 1950. He was 22 years old.

"They were looking for younger men and I was asked to join and I did," he said. Buildings were made of wood back then; firefighters were still called "smoke eaters," Latham said.

He was appointed fire chief in 1966, and was reappointed each year, serving until he retired in 1997.

Whenever he went out on a call, his wife, Joan, would get up with him and sit in a rocking chair by the door until he got home.

"In case he needed me, I wanted to be awake," she said. The couple will be married 59 years next month.

Firefighting wasn't a paid job, but Richard Latham said he liked serving the community. To earn a salary, he worked first at a textile mill and then for Dow Chemical, where he stayed 38 years.

He recalls two major fires in Noank. One at the Noank Baptist Church when he was not chief, and another at a house on East Shore Avenue in Groton Long Point. Latham doesn't remember the year, but he remembers the wind at Groton Long Point.

"There was about a 40 mph wind coming in and I had to get my boots on. I could hardly stand up," he said.

No one was hurt, he said. There was one injury when the church burned; the department ordered all firefighters out of the building, someone pulled a hose and it struck one of the men in the head. He wasn't seriously hurt.

Now firefighting has become much more technical. Firetrucks are automated and computerized.

"It's a regular one-man operation," Latham said. "It's good. You've got automatic transmissions (and) you can keep both hands on the wheel. It's safer."

It's more expensive, too. The first fire truck Latham's department bought cost $30,000, he said. The last one cost $360,0000. Now they just need the volunteers to run it.

Latham is past president of the Groton Firehouses and the New London County Fire Chiefs' Association. The Elks put on an annual banquet, and this year they presented him with a silver plate for decades of active service with the fire company.

The chief who took over after Latham, David Steel, was a firefighter and deputy chief at the sub base, "so he knew practically everything," Latham said. But he said he'll still volunteer for as long as he is physically able.

"I just love it, that's all," he said. "It's being in the community."