BALDWINSVILLE — With a full seven decades of service under his belt, Irving Candee has earned his stature as one of the longest-serving fire department members in Onondaga County.
It all started in late 1951 — Candee’s first year as both a married man and Baldwinsville resident — when his neighbor from across the street decided to introduce him to the crew down the road at Belgium Cold Springs.
At that point, the all-volunteer, roughly 20-man department was a little over two years old and only in possession of one engine with a 500-gallon tank.
Over the years, however, the manpower increased and the department supplemented the stand-alone River Road station with the building of two facilities on Loop Road.
Along the way, Candee made sure he was always ready to lend help at a moment’s notice, even if that meant sacrificing a good night’s sleep or a meal with his family.
“It could’ve been Christmas dinner, by gosh, and the turkey could be on the fork, but if that siren went off, I went off too, and I didn’t get back until things were under control,” the 95-year-old said.
Though the macular degeneration resulting from a baling wire misadventure cost him clarity in his left eye as a teenager, it restricted neither his ascension to the title of Belgium Cold Springs fire chief nor his operation of two construction businesses.
It wasn’t until his mid-seventies that Candee took one final call and packed it in as an active responding member, spurred by the fact that his wife Virginia, a life member of the Greater Baldwinsville Ambulance Corps, had fallen terminally ill.
These days, despite diminished mobility, he continues to contribute to monthly station meetings and sit down with the new members on the books, but in the age of COVID, his long-held routine of flipping pancakes and cooking hash browns for the department’s Palm Sunday fundraisers has been put on hiatus.
Still, having joined the engine company in its beginning stages, Candee never runs short of stories, knowledge and advice to tell to the younger firefighters.
“He’s a very good mentor, and he really played a pivotal role in making Belgium Cold Springs what we are today,” said Matt Speach, the current fire chief. “He’s one of the nicest guys you’ll ever meet too.”
On the night of Jan. 22, the fire district honored Candee as chief emeritus by presenting him with a golden bugle award and an engraved plaque commemorating his 70 years of service.
