Proclamation Honors Former Deputy Fire Chief Who Died Unexpectedly

GOLDEN'S BRIDGE, NY — A man who spent decades serving his neighbors was honored by his home state of New York in a touching tribute.

From the Golden's Bridge Fire Department.

A New York State Senate proclamation acknowledging the late Golden’s Bridge Deputy Fire Chief Raymond J. Baker, Sr. for his distinguished life as a public servant in the fire services was presented to the Baker family by Sen. Peter Harckham in a recent ceremony at the Golden’s Bridge Firehouse. Baker died unexpectedly in March of this year.

The proclamation, prepared by Harckham, lauded Baker for his 33 years (1980-2013) as a career firefighter with the Hartsdale Fire Department in the Hamlet of the Town of Greenburgh, and his combined 17 years as a volunteer firefighter with the Somers Fire Department (2007-2017) and Golden’s Bridge Fire Department (2016-until his death), the latter whose district includes all of Golden’s Bridge and small swaths of North Salem and Somers.

Harckham presented the proclamation to the late Deputy Fire Chief’s sons – Raymond Baker, Jr., Captain of the Golden’s Bridge Fire Department, who is also a lieutenant with the Lewisboro Volunteer Ambulance Corps and an emergency room technician at Northern Westchester Hospital, and Ryan Baker, a mathematics teacher at BOCES Westchester.

In a statement, the Baker family said, "We are grateful to the State Senate and to Sen. Harckham for this special recognition of our father and his decades of service to others. Helping people wasn’t his job, it was his passion. This proclamation is a lasting tribute to the way he lived his life – always giving back to the community by doing what he loved most."

One of the proudest achievements for the late Deputy Fire Chief was serving alongside his son for eight years with the Golden’s Bridge Fire Department. In addition to holding the department’s third-highest officer rank, Baker served as the certified training officer and, at one time, also held the captain position now filled by his son.

Along with the proclamation, Harckham delivered heartfelt remarks to the gathering at the firehouse, calling attention to Baker’s lifetime of dedication to the fire services and unwavering commitment to assisting others in their time of need.

Among those who assembled for the ceremony included Golden’s Bridge Fire Chief Albert Melillo, 1st Assistant Chief James McManus, Deputy Fire Chief Robert Melillo, and several members of the department, as well as Fire Commissioner Edward Brancati, Chairman of the Board of Fire Commissioners of the Golden’s Bridge Fire District, and Fire Commissioner Joseph Simoncini.

"We thank Sen. Harckham for acknowledging Raymond Baker, Sr., who was the standard-bearer of what it means to be a public servant," said Fire Chief Albert Melillo. "When he was serving as a career firefighter, he spent his time off shift as a volunteer firefighter in his community. After he retired, he could’ve pursued his hobbies full-time – he was a model train enthusiast who loved building replicas, and a conservationist who enjoyed the outdoors, fishing and hunting."

"But he continued as a volunteer firefighter because the safety and well-being of others – and sharing his lifetime of experience, expertise and knowledge about firefighting with his colleagues, especially young members of the Golden’s Bridge Fire Department – was always more important than retirement," Melillo said.

The proclamation acknowledged Baker’s many federal, state and county certifications (such as incident command, firefighter assist, search team tactics, accident victim extrication, hazardous material containment, certified bailout training, and lead electrician charged with maintaining alarm boxes), and equally lengthy officer and leadership positions with the Somers and Golden’s Bridge Fire Departments. It also referenced how he joined hundreds of other firefighters in the recovery efforts at the World Trade Center after the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.

The Harckham proclamation said Baker would always be remembered as a loving and devoted husband and father, a skilled firefighter and compassionate leader, and a selfless person who placed helping others ahead of himself.