Justin Strawser/The Daily Item
Three generations of the Fanella family are active volunteer firefighters in Mount Carmel Township. Pictured at the Atlas Fire Company are Ethan Fanella, 19, Robert “Bobby” James Fanella, 40, and Robert “Bob” Joseph Fanella, 63.
MOUNT CARMEL — Firefighting is in the blood of the Fanella family, stretching back four generations in Mount Carmel Township.
Robert B. Fanella died at age 88 in 2014. His son Robert “Bob” Joseph Fanella, 63, his grandson Robert “Bobby” James Fanella, 40, and his great-grandson Ethan Robert Fanella, 19, are volunteer firefighters for the Atlas Fire Company and Natalie Fire Company in Mount Carmel Township.
“It makes me proud,” said Bob Fanella about his son and grandson becoming firefighters.
Bob Fanella doesn’t do any interior work anymore due to health reasons, but he said he is proud to see his son and grandson working together and entering buildings as father and son.
The late Fanella was the first firefighter in the family. When he returned home from World War II, he joined the fire company and helped build the current building in the 1970s. He worked as a chief engineer and foreman, maintained the fire apparatus and helped secure one of the first state loans for Atlas.
Bob Fanella was the former chief at Natalie for 28 years and the former chief of Atlas for 10 years. Bobby Fanella, who was involved in firefighting in Virginia when he lived there, is a lieutenant at Atlas, having moved back to the area in 2014.
“I grew up in this building,” said Bobby Fanella of Atlas. “I spent so much of my life here. The first thing I did at age 14 was join as a junior firefighter. I signed the working papers and started training. I went to Northumberland County Vo-tech for protective services.”
Bobby Fanella said his father was his biggest influence who taught him to work hard and diligently to save people’s property.
“They’re my best friends,” he said of his father and son. “Now I’m going into fires with my kid. I’m proud to see him with me.”
Justin Strawser/The Daily Item
Three generations of the Fanella family are active volunteer firefighters in Mount Carmel Township. Pictured are Robert “Bob” Joseph Fanella, 63, Robert “Bobby” James Fanella, 40, and Ethan Fanella, 19.
When Ethan Fanella turned 14, the year the family moved back to the area, he too joined the Atlas and Natalie fire companies, which are both members of the Mount Carmel Township Fire Department. The first fire he went out on, Ethan worked the hydrant and Bobby was on the pump. He said it’s his goal to go inside with his father while his grandfather works the hydrant.
“As soon as I turned 14, I took my chance on it,” he said. “Since I was born, I’ve been around it.”
Ethan Fanella said it’s hard to put the feelings into words.
“It’s a surreal experience, working a call with my dad side by side,” said Ethan. “It’s great honestly, seeing my grandfather there too. It makes me happy to see them watching me do something I love.”
Robert Inglis/The Daily Item Shamokin volunteer firefighters Thomas Jeffery, left, and his dad Steve Jeffery, outside the Friendship Fire Company in Shamokin.
Shamokin Fire Bureau Chief Stephen Jeffery, who also works as the Northumberland County Director of Public Safety and Emergency Management, said he is proud to serve with his son Thomas Jeffery, a first lieutenant at Shamokin’s Friendship Fire. Thomas Jeffery is a third-generation firefighter, his grandfather was the first of the family to become a volunteer firefighter with the East End Fire Company in Coal Township.
“You’re not seeing the younger generation come out and be a part of the community,” said Stephen Jeffery. “To have your family, your son or your daughter, it’s pride. It’s something I put in for years, good moments and bad moments. To be able to participate and share things with him now, makes a father proud.”
Stephen Jeffery said he has been a volunteer firefighter since 1985 when he started as a junior firefighter at the East End. Thomas Jeffery, 23, said he joined as a junior firefighter in 2014 at age 14.
“I grew up around it,” said Thomas Jeffery. “The day I was able to come out of the house I’ve been here. Every chance I got, I even went on fire calls with him (his dad). I remember sleeping, the pager goes off and him bolting out the door, and me trying to follow him.”
Robert Inglis/The Daily Item Steve Jeffery is the Shamokin Fire Bureau Chief.
Stephen Jeffery said he remembers a moment that “made the hairs on the back of his neck stand up.” Thomas was working the interior of a fire at the Penn Jersey Food Mart in Shamokin in 2017 when the floor collapsed under him. His father didn’t know about it until an EMT told him that his son was not injured.
“I do two different jobs (as father and chief), but sometimes those do come together,” said Stephen Jeffery. “I have had quite a few situations in my career and I try to tell him as lessons learned on my side for situational awareness. He knows what to look for.”
Robert Inglis/The Daily Item A bell on the Shamokin 1 Fire Bureau engine.
At the East End Hose Company in Sunbury, Captain John Ferrari said there are seven families who volunteer as firefighters. That includes himself and his two sons, 22-year-old Derek and 18-year-old Christopher; and treasurer Dave Lehman whose late grandfather and late father were at the East End and whose 34-year-old son Mitchel Lehman is a paid fireman in Delaware but volunteers whenever he visits his father.
Lehman said the “idea of volunteerism” and “growing up with it” inspired him to follow in his forefathers’ footsteps. He has been working in some capacity for 40 years.
“There’s a satisfaction of helping someone,” said Lehman. “When the call comes in, people need help and there are people behind you to help. It’s not all about me and you, it’s about everybody else who comes together.”
He and his son talk about the differences between volunteer and paid services. The paid services have more training because they’re paid to train, and the training is equal across the board; and there’s more “down the ladder command,” said Lehman.
“We’re here because we’re all volunteers,” said Lehman. There’s a mix of people who show up and it’s a tough job for him (Ferrari) to do.”
Sunbury Fire Chief Brad Wertz and his father Russ Wertz Jr. are also generational firefighters. Russ Wertz Jr.’s father, the late Russ Wertz Sr., started volunteering after the Korean War in the 1960s, Russ Wertz has been a firefighter since 1982 and Brad Wertz has been a firefighter since 2002. Brad’s brother Justin Wertz was also a firefighter at one point.
Their home base is Friendship Hose.
“I’m proud of him,” said Russ Wertz Jr.
Brad Wertz said he grew up with firefighting.
“When he would go out on fire calls, my mom would take us to scenes to show us what they were doing,” he said. “I got interested and started running.”