Funeral for former Lancaster fire chief will be Monday

BY CARL BURNETT JR. • The Eagle-Gazette Staff

• November 28, 2010
 

LANCASTER --The funeral for former Lancaster fire chief Wilbur Welch will take place on Monday. Welch served 24 years in the department before retiring in February 1992. The funeral service will take place at 3 p.m. Monday at Frank E. Smith Funeral Home Chapel and Crematory, 405 N. Columbus St., with David Tingler officiating. Cremation will follow the service. Burial will be at a later date in Violet Cemetery. Friends may visit from 2 to 6 p.m. today at the funeral home. Welch died Thursday at Fairfield Medical Center. "He's really going to be missed," said Lancaster City Councilman Rudy Touvell, who served on the fire department from 1967 to 1997. "You couldn't ask for a more honest man and a great chief. It was through him I became a fire investigator and started a second career." Welch joined the department as a firefighter July 28, 1967. He was promoted to lieutenant May 15, 1971, became a captain July 1, 1977, and was appointed assistant chief March 30, 1981. He succeeded Wallace Kerns as chief on March 28, 1982. Welch served as chief during some of the department's toughest years.

In an interview with the Eagle-Gazette at his retirement, he said the most stressful and trying time for him personally and professionally was in 1988 and 1989. That was when a proposed city income tax levy failed in November 1988, and he was forced to lay off 15 firefighters, a quarter of the force back then. The department also closed two of its three firehouses and shut down its medic unit. It left the department with only 43 firefighters to answer fire calls. "People were literally laying there dying, and we couldn't send any help," Welch said in an interview at the time of his retirement.

Former Assistant Fire Chief John Kraner said that period of time was the toughest in Lancaster's history. "But he always had the support of the men," Kraner said. "We knew he was doing the best he could given the circumstances. He wasn't abandoning us." In 1989, a 0.45 percent income tax was passed, and the department was able to fill the 15 positions. By the time he retired, he had increased the number of personnel in the department to 77, reopened an engine house, got a the medic unit running again
and bought two new pumpers.

His time as chief was not without controversy. During a state audit of Lancaster for 1990, the audit showed the fire chief's brother, Neil Welch, had been paid $3,310 to paint Engine House No. 2 and Russell Welch, the chief's distant cousin, had been
paid $27,862.78 for engine repairs for the department. The investigation that followed concluded there was no wrong-doing. The investigation found the painting project had been bid out, and Neil Welch had submitted the lowest bid. As for the repairs, Russell Welch had been providing the service for more than 20 years before Wilbur Welch had been promoted to chief and the pay vouchers were all approved by the service-safety director and not by Chief Welch.

But throughout the years it was always clear that his heart was with firefighting, firefighters and training. "When I started at the department he was my captain," Kraner said. "The first thing you did after being hired was go see your captain and find out what your assignment was going to be. My first impression at that meeting was about how much he cared about me and the other firefighters and that never changed." At the time of his retirement, Welch said the 1990 tire fires were the major fires that stood out in his mind. In February 1990, firefighters had to put out several thousand tires that caught fire at a site on West Main Street. And another in May 1990 at the site of about 1.2 million tires located between South Maple and South Columbus streets. When the fires were put out, Welch and the department received many calls from other firefighting operations on how they fought the blazes and were able to put it out. There actions became a training tool for other departments facing similar fires. Welch also helped start the Lancaster Fire Department's fire training academy started during his tenure as chief. The training academy helped train many area firefighters while it was in operation. "He went through some of the toughest times in the   department's history," Kraner said. "You may not have always agreed with him, but he made the toughest decisions during the darkest times and brought the department back. Through it all, he had the support of his men. He will be missed." He is survived by his companion of 20 years, Anita LeGrand of Pickerington; four daughters, Glenna Ankrom, of Pleasantville; Rhonda (Tim) Brown, Vickie Simms and Amy Steele, all of Lancaster; nine grandchildren, Sarah Treitmaier, Tiffany (Brian) Sunderland, Heather (Josh) Colopy, Bethany Ankrom, Ashley Simms, Ryan Ankrom, Brandon Simms, Noah Steele and Lauren Steele; eight great-grandchildren; four sisters, Carol Welch, of Baltimore, Patsy (Dale) Truex, of Tennessee, Diane Morris, of Lancaster and Lu Ann Welch, of Baltimore; two brothers, Paul (Malia) Welch, of Texas, and Neal (Donna) Welch, of Lancaster; many nieces, nephews; and two canine companions.