He smiled, shook everyone’s hand, and thanked them all for their well wishes.
And Larry Helms hated every moment of it.
After 35 years as a firefighter with the Wheeling Fire Department, Helms retired in July after registering with the state’s deferred retirement option plan five years earlier. He started with the department as a paramedic and climbed the ladder to serve as the chief during his final 15 years, but the angst grew with each passing day.
“July 18th was the day I was to retire as the fire chief of Wheeling, and I dreaded that day. I really did,” Helms admitted. “It was definitely a day I didn’t want to see come, but I am sure I’m not the only person who can say the same thing. But I truly believe Jim is going to do just fine as the new fire chief because he’s been very involved for a long time.
“I wasn’t ready to go in July, but now I’m OK with retiring as the fire chief and moving into my new (building code) position with the city because I’ve realized it was time,” he continued. “But we had a lot going on during my final years, and it’s going to be a lot of fun for me to watch the construction of the new fire headquarters because I worked very hard to help that project become a reality.”
Helms, however, still has not been able to completely let go.
“I cut myself off from listening to the scanner after the first two weeks of my retirement because I was listening to it a lot,” Helms said with a smirk. “But now I find myself turning it on just sometimes just to see what’s happening. Or, if I hear a siren, I’ll turn it on. I never thought I would be able to ever turn it off, but it has been pretty interesting because I’ve gone back and forth on it.
“It’s part of making an honest effort to manage the transition because I knew it was going to be difficult at first because I was a firefighter for 35 years,” he said. “My wife was more worried about it than I was because that’s all I have done for so many years. But now, after a couple of months, I think everything is going very well and that I have moved forward.”
There’s a Code for That
Building, safety, and access codes drastically have changed since the city of Wheeling’s peak in population during the 1940s so new owners of structures throughout the municipality are mandated to update fire suppression systems, forms of ingress and egress, and to abide by the many aspects of the American Disabilities Act.
These days, that is where Helms and his staff of four inspectors come into play.
“I was the chief inspector for the fire department at one time, so I’ve been familiar with the process that our department handles on a daily basis now,” he said. “Plus, a lot of the contractors now know me and know that I am fair, and they have been very understanding. We have codes to enforce and that’s why we are here.
“There have been a lot of changes to the codes through the years in order to keep people safer than before,” Helms explained. “It’s all about prevention because we have learned a lot of lessons about what makes sense, and what doesn’t, and access now is far more inclusive than it used to be.”
While many of the buildings in Wheeling’s downtown area have businesses on the street levels of Main and Market streets, the majority of them are vacant on the above floors because of issues with current code. Helms hopes to work with those property owners in the future because that would signal commercial and residential growth in the area.
“It doesn’t matter if the second and third floors are going to be offices or apartments, most of them would need sprinkler systems and fire escapes to bring those buildings up to the codes we have today,” he said. “We have seen a lot of the downtown buildings get purchased the past few years and more are on sale, too, so I’m hopeful we’ll see those projects take place.
“That is something I would love to see because, for a lot of years, all we have seen has been businesses going away and, in some case, the buildings, too,” Helms explained. “I think we’re coming out of that, though, and that we’re going to see a lot of positive changes take place I the future.”
A Family Missed
Helms was a volunteer firefighter in East Ohio prior to being hired by the City of Wheeling in the mid-1980s, and until joining the city’s fire department’s administrative staff on the bottom level of the Center Wheeling parking garage, he was assigned for many years to Station 2 in North Wheeling.
Shift after shift, he responded to medical emergencies and battled blazes while shoulder to shoulder with his co-workers, all of whom were willing to place their lives on the line to save others.
There’s a special camaraderie that develops among those men and women that he misses most.
“I am still working for the City, and I still have a lot of the same contacts, and I continue to work with a lot of people I’ve worked with in the past. So far, everything has gone very well,” Helms said. “But I do have to say that the first two weeks there was a little bit of separation anxiety. It took some time to get used to this position instead of being in charge of an entire fire department.
“The biggest thing was the separation from all of the firefighters,” he admitted. “I get to see those folks from time to time, but after you spend so many years in one environment, it takes some time to get used to something new.”
But, from time to time, Helms has been offered a chance to “gear up” once again.
“A few weeks ago the fire department was doing their night training operation and one of the firefighters reached out to me and said, ‘Hey Chief, if you’re available, we need safety people for the training,’ so I went over and put the suit back on and jumped into the smoke,” Helms explained. “It gave the chance to have fun with the guys and the gals again. I have been trying to keep on my skills anyway because I am still an instructor, but I know I have to sit back and let Jim and his staff do what they do.
“But the transition was one of the strangest things I have experienced during my professional career. I don’t know how to explain it, but I know I was anxious about it,” he admitted. “But not until that period of time passed did I realize of how much stress I was under when I was the fire chief because there is far less stress now. But honestly, I do still miss the job.”
