Politics & Government
Bath Township Volunteer Assistant Fire Chief James Hower Retires
Bath Township Trustees present him with a framed resolution.
The Bath Township Trustees paid homage to retiring volunteer Assistant Fire Chief James Hower at the trustees' most recent meeting. The trustees presented Hower and his wife Claudia with a framed resolution that honored his 47 years of service with the Bath Township Fire Department.
Interim Fire Chief Tim Gemind followed with a plaque from the fire department and a personal story: “Chief Hower would do anything for anybody,” Gemind said. When one of Gemind's daughters hit the other with a wagon, he passed the call onto Hower. “I got the call, but I was unable to go home,” Gemind recalled. “So, I made it Chief Hower's problem.” Hower went to Gemind's home to make sure everything was alright.
Hower moved to Bath Township from Akron in May 1964. He wanted to protect and help serve his new community. “I went down [to the fire department] and they said come and we'll take you,” Hower said. Back then, training for a volunteer fireman consisted of 36 hours and another 80 hours or so of basic EMS training. He stared working that June.
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“Volunteer” firemen for the Bath Fire Department work on an on-call basis. They take calls from their homes. “They are paid on-call people that get an hourly stipend,” Hower said. “Whenever you were at home, you were available.”
Hower said he answered about 500 of the 1,200 calls the fire department receives each year. About three-fourths of those calls are EMS-related.
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Forty of his 47 years at the fire department, Hower served as treasurer. He was promoted to assistant fire chief in 1979. “He was referred to as the nighttime fire chief,” Gemind said.
Hower's day job was running his family's business, the Akron Selle Company, a metal stamping business he ran with his brother, Otis. He retired from that business in 1995. “My brother took over and ran it for seven more years,” he said.
His decision to retire was prompted by physical ailments. The 71-year-old recently underwent surgery to correct a detached retina. “You can't drive a fire truck and not see where you are going.”
Hower's last day was Oct. 7. His resignation was officially submitted to the trustees on Oct. 17.
“If you can't do the job, you can't play the game,” Hower said. You can't hazard yourself or anyone else.”