One of the Perrysburg Township Fire Department’s founding members has died. Paul Eckel, 93, passed away April 27 (see obituary page 4).

Mr. Eckel represented the last of the charter members who formed the department in 1961. During his tenure, he served as fire chief from 1965 to 1973 and became fire inspector the following year, serving in that position until his retirement. He also volunteered for the township’s food pantry program.

Last year, the Messenger Journal sat down with Mr. Eckel, who visited the fire station to celebrate the department’s 60th anniversary. He also came to see the first fire truck purchased for the department in 1961 with passage of an operating levy.

The truck, a 1960 Ford was restored 16 years ago, and sits in a bay at the current fire station, which was constructed in 2009 adjacent to the original structure.

Looking at the truck, Mr. Eckel recalled those early years. “We started with 16 people, all volunteers.”

Many volunteers were farmers working in their fields when the siren would blare across flatlands, he explained. “They would jump on their tractors, drive to their cars and go to the station.”

The truck could carry as many as seven men holding onto side and rear rails as they responded to calls.

Of course, Mr. Eckel noted, trucks built back then were not nearly as reliable as today’s vehicles. “It was subject to mechanical problems,” he said, adding that it broke down on a number of occasions.

Patient transport in the early years was provided by Witzler Shank Funeral Home, a common practice, he explained. When the funeral home abandoned the service in 1976, the township created EMS as a division of the department.

As the community grew so did its needs and in 1987, voters approved a levy to fund a full-time EMS/fire department.

Mr. Eckel said he is ever grateful to residents for their overwhelming support of that first, 0.5-mill operating levy, which set the wheels in motion for the fire department’s formation and future.

Speaking on behalf of the department, Fire Chief Tom Brice noted that Mr. Eckel impacted a number of lives over his 93 years. “He will be deeply missed by all who knew him. Rest easy chief, we will take it from here,” he added.

Perrysburg Township Fire/EMS sounded the last alarm for Mr. Eckel on May 3 at Witzler-Shank-Walker Funeral Home, 222 East South Boundary Street, Perrysburg, where services were held the following day.