Zeek reflects on his 50 years as firefighter
HOLLIDAYSBURG — Dave Zeek remembers the first time he was called to a fire.
A fresh volunteer with the Phoenix Volunteer Fire Department, Zeek said he accompanied an elder member to a blaze on South Juniata Street.
“There was fire all around us. I mean, I was scared to death,” Zeek recalled.
But that initial fear wasn’t enough to scare Zeek from the fire hall, and, this summer, he celebrated his 50th year with Phoenix.
In August, he spoke while working from behind a desk near the entryway of Canal Basin Park’s Reiser House. He paused, only briefly, trying to find the words to explain what has kept him a part of the fire department for five decades.
“I’ve often thought about that,” he said. “I think it was a desire to maybe help somebody.”
Zeek, 67, a Hollidaysburg native, said his introduction to the fire department was through two uncles who were members of Phoenix and often called on their nephew to help work events, such as street fairs.
“To me that was a big excitement,” Zeek said.
That excitement eventually led Zeek to join, and in 1968 he became a Phoenix member.
Now, new members must undergo hours of training before fighting their first blaze.
In Zeek’s youth, however, there were fewer regulations.
“See, back in the day, you didn’t have any training,” he said. “You put on a helmet, a coat and a pair of boots and went to work.”
Zeek passed his trial by fire on South Juniata Street, and soon after, he was fighting blazes alongside his peers.
At the same time, Zeek said he volunteered as a responder with Phoenix’s corresponding ambulance service.
In August, Zeek remembered one call in particular. A woman was in labor and needed help delivering her child.
Zeek was only a teen, but he responded to the best of his ability, placing a pillow between the woman’s legs in an effort to stop her bleeding.
“I didn’t know how you made a baby, let alone how to deliver one,” he said, pointing out that a doctor later commended him for placing the pillow, which saved the woman’s life.
“I mean I was scared to death,” he said. “In fact, I got so worked up I cried.”
Zeek said his time with Phoenix has brought about many different emotions. There have been heated arguments and tragic accidents.
But most of all, he remembers the good times had with fellow members and the friendships he’s developed.
Those friendships “were so close” between a group of about a dozen guys, Zeek said, remembering Saturday night get-togethers in the station, where members would gather to watch TV.
“If you didn’t get down to the fire station by 6 p.m., you didn’t have seat in the lounge,” he said, recalling the large number of people at those gatherings.
In the years since, that membership has dwindled, Zeek said, explaining it now is a struggle to find volunteers.
That is partly due to the number and hours of mandatory trainings volunteers must submit to, he said.
Not all of Zeek’s memories are pleasant. In fact, some are horrific. He talked about the emergencies that haunt him — gruesome accidents and child deaths.
In the Reiser House, Zeek said one emergency, a farm equipment accident, was especially memorable.
Zeek said he responded to the accident to find that a man had been sucked into a manure spreader, and it was a gory sight.
A paramedic on scene warned him about the gore, he said.
“She said, ‘Listen, if you got any young guys, keep them out here. Don’t let them back. You are not going to believe this,'” Zeek said. “Well, when I walked back behind that building, I couldn’t believe it.
“I’ll tell you what, I relived that one a lot. I’d get awake and just sit on the edge of my bed.”
But Zeek stuck with the fire department, moving up through the ranks until he eventually became chief in the late 1980s.
He’s also become an instructor, the company’s president and Hollidaysburg Borough’s fire marshal.
As marshal, Zeek visits scenes after fires are extinguished to determine a cause.
“Sometimes, it’s a no-brainer,” he said. “A lot of times, you can see a burn pattern.”
Other times, that determination is more difficult. Zeek said he once found that a fire was started because a woman was smoking near a fan, and, through that fan, ashes blew into a curtain, igniting it.
During his time as a firefighter, Zeek married his wife of 36 years, Sarah, and they had two daughters, Laurah and Rebekah.
Zeek and his wife now have three grandsons, Gabriel, Matthew and David.
In July, Zeek was honored by state Rep. Judy Ward, R-Blair, and Sen. John H. Eichelberger Jr., R-Blair, who recognized him for his 50 years with Phoenix.
That excitement was followed by stress, as Hollidaysburg Borough Council members announced in September that Zeek recently had a medical emergency.
On Friday, Zeek said he is recovering and preparing to return home.
Throughout all of his years, Zeek said he tried to maintain sympathy when responding to emergencies, even during adrenaline-filled battles with large fires.
“It’s a good fire to fight, but you have to remember people suffered a loss,” he said.
Mirror Staff Writer Sean Sauro is at 946-7535.