MILLHEIM FIRE COMPANY 100TH ANNIVERSARY

Rain douses record, not spirits

Attendance short of bucket brigade goal

By Sara Ganim

MILLHEIM — Well, you can’t predict the weather.

Craig Houtz

Firefighter John Wagner, of Washington Co. Hook & Ladder, passes another water filled bucket to volunteer Ed Martin during the Bucket Brigade during the Millheim Fire Company's 100th Anniversary carnival on Saturday, June 20, 2009. They were attempting a new Guinness World Record for the World's Longest Bucket Brigade but fell short with only 350 people in a 1500 foot line.

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So the Millheim Fire Company, celebrating 100 years in service to the community, couldn’t get the 7,000 people it needed out in the pouring rain to break a world record for longest bucket brigade.

But the community support from the 350 people who did come Saturday was satisfying enough.

“They were really dedicated,” said Delmer Homan, the company’s longest serving member. “We didn’t break the record, but I think they all had a good time doing it. They were whooping and hollering.”

Jeffrey Greatsinger brought his family of four to the event all the way from Horseheads, N.Y. — about 21/ 2 hours away.

“I always loved to go to fire department stuff,” he said. His 12-year-old daughter, Megan, pushed him to bring the family when she read about Millheim’s initiative online.

“I was working out in the hotel room until 10 p.m. (the night before) to start my muscles,” Megan Greatsinger said.

She helped her father pass along the buckets, each filled with about 1.7 gallons of water.

“Take fire companies like Millheim,” Jeffrey Greatsinger said, “who work with very little tax money. They have to support themselves or they wouldn’t exist.”

His daughter, prepared with a poncho, was still soaked throughout.

“It was an enjoyable time though,” Jeffrey Greatsinger said. “Well worth coming down for.”

The weather left 81-year-old Penns Valley native Terry Bressler thinking they didn’t even need to fill the buckets.

“I made the comment that they probably didn’t have to fill many, just let them out in the rain,” she said.

Bressler, who took one bucket home as a souvenir, said they got pretty heavy at times, but the wet celebration was important to her.

“I won’t be here for the next one, that’s for sure,” she said, laughing. “What would we do without a fire company? That’s what I always say.”

Millheim Chief Floyd Etters said they organized this effort for their anniversary because in 1995, the Boy Scouts of America took the record away from the fire service.

“So in our 100th year, we wanted to try to bring it back to the fire service,” he said.

Using 150 buckets, about 350 people in a 1,500-foot line poured water into a 1830 manual fire pumper on loan from Bellefonte Fire Company, and put out a small, symbolic fire in the field behind the fire house.

The company also celebrated with carnival rides in the evening, and the Elk Creek Cafe and Ale Works brewed a special “Centenniale,” for the company, which was undoubtedly enjoyed after the brigade.

Along the line, 8-year-old Katerina Prior commented, as she passed along the last bucket, that the water was so dirty from mud and rain, it looked like beer.

She couldn’t believe passing buckets down a line was the way firefighters used to put out fires.

“It’s good for her to see heritage, even if it’s only every hundred years,” her dad, Robert Prior said.

Her mom, Amy, and Robert Prior, who is an assistant chief in Port Matilda, were happy to see how many people just like them came out in the rain.

“It’s nice to see you still have a sense of community here,” Amy Prior said.

Sara Ganim can be reached at 231-4616.

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