Firefighter set to retire

By WAYNE QUESENBERRY/Staff

Flames were shooting a hundred feet into the air when Ray Richardson Jr. arrived at Fairview Road around 2:16 a.m. Sunday, Jan. 2, 1999. Maneuvering the Wytheville Fire Department pumper truck through the snow to the natural gas substation, which had just exploded, he braced against the freezing cold for a major battle with fire and ice.
“That was the worst fire I ever worked,” noted Richardson, who is retiring at the end of July after 30 years as a paid firefighter with the town of Wytheville. “That and anytime there was a fatality. We’re fortunate there’s not been a fire-related death since I guess back in the late 90s.”
The January 1999 fire destroyed Hilltop Cycles and a rental house. Thousands of natural gas customers were without heat for a couple of days and Appalachian Power Co. customers had no electricity.
“That was scary,” Richardson stated.
The Fort Chiswell area native’s career began when late Sheriff Buford Shockley hired him as a deputy/jailer. After 19 months, he joined the Wytheville Fire Department as a paid firefighter on July 14, 1980.
“I was hired mainly to dispatch and to get the fire truck to the scene,” Richardson noted. “I never went inside a burning building.”
In 1993, the town and county instituted the 911 system. The town hired five dispatchers.
“There was no training for dispatchers when I started,” the Fort Chiswell High School graduate said. “Now dispatchers have to go to school to be certified.”
Through the years, Richardson attended numerous area fire schools. Most of Richardson’s training was experienced on the job.
“Pepsi Waller and Ikey Davidson showed us how the fire truck worked,” he remarked. “It was a 1941 Chevrolet pumper truck with an open cab. They showed us how to hook it to a fire hydrant and get the water out. Now, you set the pressure on the truck. You push a button and the pressure is already there.”
Pumper trucks, Richardson pointed out, are now equipped to hold more water. They range from 1,000 gallons to 1,250 gallons, compared with the older models, which only held 500 gallons of water, he said.
During his years of service, Richardson has worked for four different police chiefs that supervise the fire department. They were the late Warren McAllister, Bobby Doyle, the late Larry Groseclose and the current chief Col. Harry Ayers.
Richardson – with the rank of captain – supervises the town’s five paid firefighters and the six dispatchers.
“We’ve not had a lot of turnover,” Richardson pointed out. “Kathy Anderson was our first female firefighter. The way we do things has not changed a whole lot.”
According to him, there are approximately 25 volunteer firefighters in the department.
Communication is the biggest change Richardson said he has seen through the years. From a two-channel radio with fire, rescue and police on the same frequency to portable radios for each firefighter, he has witnessed huge improvements in the system.
Asked the best part of his job, Richardson replied, “Meeting people and helping people. Oh, I’ve loved my job. I can’t imagine ever doing anything else.”
Motorcycle riding and helping his mother on the farm, he said, will keep him busy after retirement. Raising beef cattle is a hobby.
He and his wife, the former Debra Davidson, have one daughter, Samantha, who is employed by the Wythe County Sheriff’s Office and attends Wytheville Community College. They reside in Wytheville.
Richardson is the son of Mary U. Richardson of the Fort Chiswell community and the late Ray Richardson Sr. He has a sister, Jean R. Dunford, and a brother, John Richardson. Another sister, Julia R. Auther, is deceased.
Richardson is an active member of the Wytheville Moose Lodge.
Wayne Quesenberry can be reached at 228-6611 or wquesenberry@wythenews.com.