After 30 years, Vineland fire captain hangs up his helmet

VINELAND - Fire Captain Anthony Baldosaro marked his pending retirement with an open house celebration Thursday at Fire Company 6.

Engine bays transformed into a dining room for a pig roast potluck dinner attended by family, friends and fellow firefighters from near and far who came to bid the popular fire official a heartfelt goodbye.

Related story: WATCH: Fire Captain reunited with missing helmet

After a 30-year career of racing to calls, Baldosaro enjoyed the down time to reflect on it all.

Baldosaro’s shift ends at 7:30 a.m. Friday and his retirement becomes official at midnight.

Finishing up paperwork in the platoon commander’s office Thursday evening, Baldosaro said he never wanted to be anything but a firefighter.

In 1968, he was a young boy living in his grandparents’ Malaga home while his father was away serving in the military when the nearby Colucci Lumber Co. erupted in flames.

“I remember looking out the window and seeing it burning and I told my grandpop, 'Can I go,'” Baldosaro said.

Of course, he could not.

“I guess from that point forward, I always wanted to be a firefighter,” he said.

This year, there would be another fire at that same lumberyard. Baldosaro would be there wearing two helmets, serving as Malaga Volunteer Fire Company chief and a Vineland Fire Company 6 captain.

Related story: Fire chief: Colucci Lumber investigation to take weeks

When he was 16, Baldosaro joined the Malaga Volunteer Fire Company because the Vineland Fire Department didn’t have a youth program. At 18, he remained with the Malaga crew but took the civil service test to become a career firefighter in Vineland.

It would be two years before he was hired.

“At the time, all the guys here with exception of two could have been my father, they were older,” he said. “I was the little kid; no one really knew me because I wasn’t a volunteer in town.”

The older guys would go home on hour breaks for lunch and dinner.

“No one cooked here,” he said.

The round-trip to his mother’s home in east Vineland took up too much time, so he and another guy started making meals at the station.

Soon others were joining in. A few of Baldosaro’s recipes are featured in Firemen’s Mutual Benevolent Association cookbooks.

Platoon meals are now routine. There was a time firefighters would fix a Thanksgiving meal and invite their families to the station.

That stopped after a few times they left their families behind to answer calls “because everyone else was burning their turkeys," Baldosaro said.

Promoted to captain about 10 years ago, there was more responsibility and less time for cooking.

On Thursday, he made an exception and prepared his old-fashioned sliders for his platoon.

“By request,” he said.

The role of a firefighter changed during his time on the job. When he started out, the department consisted of  a couple engines and a ladder truck.

“All we did was fire calls,” Baldosaro said. “We didn’t do rescue or hazmat — that was added to our responsibilities and that was a good thing obviously.”

Now that he is stepping down, the captain said he will miss the camaraderie he enjoyed at the fire station.

“We’ve been to weddings, christenings, birthday parties and funerals for each other,” he said.

Lt. Dave Bell calls Baldosaro his best friend. They met at a fire scene when both were young volunteer firefighters.

After Baldosaro joined the Vineland Fire Department, he encouraged Bell to take the civil service test to join as well.

It was Baldosaro who called Bell to say he got the job.

“I started on his shift, it’s been fun,” Bell said, noting Baldosaro's role as a mentor and teacher. “He’s good at what he does.”

“He’s been my best friend forever,” Bell said. “Someone has big boots to fill.”

No successor has yet been named.

“The thing I will miss is my family knowing that someone is taking care of us, that father figure to make sure we all come in the morning after that 24-hour tour,” said firefighter Carlos Mercado.

During annual fire department family gatherings, Mercado said, Baldosaro would make the promise to make sure the crew was well-trained so they got home OK.

“My one all-time goal was that I never had to make a phone call or go visit someone at home and say their loved one isn’t coming home or they’re severely injured,” Baldosaro said. “Everyone came home safe.”

“I like to train, I like to do the basics over and over because that’s what you do all the time,” he said.

Now, he shifts his attention to the list of things his wife, Cheryl, has planned for him to do.

"It's growing rapidly I understand," he joked.

Baldosaro turned over his locker and will hand in his station key. (He will remain Malaga Volunteer Fire Company chief.)

“It’s been a wonderful experience,” he said.

The city's 34th firefighter left behind some advice for the next captain.

“Don’t take the job home with you; talk about the stuff with your platoon members," he said. "Make sure when there is a bad incident you talk things out."

"And train, train, train, train, train," he said.

Deborah M. Marko: (856) 563-5256; dmarko@gannettnj.com