(Publisher’s Note: In honor of Larry Helms’ recent retirement as Wheeling Fire Chief, we decided to publish this article once again to remind our readers of his longtime dedication to the residents of the Friendly City. Larry is now employed as a building and code inspector for the City of Wheeling.)
He didn’t realize when he was being interviewed that it was for this particular article.
That is because Wheeling Fire Chief Larry Helms doesn’t expect such a fuss over him, especially not this year when the world was introduced to COVID-19. But it is for those reasons and many more that LEDE News has selected Helms as the 2020 Person of Year.
Helms began serving the citizens of Wheeling as a paramedic under former chief Cliff Sligar, and while Steve Johnston was the man in charge of the city’s fire department, Helms climbed the agency’s ladder to Assistant Chief before becoming the department’s 15th fire chief in 2007.
“I appointed Larry the chief 13 years ago, and I think he’s done an outstanding job as our fire chief,” said Wheeling City Manager Bob Herron. “During his tenure he has guided the way to a vast number of improvements with the department’s capital equipment and fire trucks, and he also has been very instrumental in the conversation about the need for a public safety building.
“Now that the project has morphed into two separate facilities, it has been his guidance that has allowed everyone involved to recognize what our fire department needs now and will need for many years to come,” he said. “Now that we have selected the location for the new police headquarters, we are moving toward finalizing the location for the new fire department headquarters, and Larry has been a very important part of that process.”
Calling It a Career
His days as chief are numbered, and not because he doesn’t love the position. In West Virginia, the DROP program (deferred retirement option plan) allows firefighters to participate no more than five years, and the Wheeling Fire Department currently has six members that will be retiring come July 1.
That includes Chief Helms, a gentleman who began his career in October 1986 as a certified paramedic. After spending the bulk of his career with Station 2 in North Wheeling, he earned promotions to Fire Engineer (1991), Lieutenant (1997), and Captain (2001).
“I’ve known it was coming but didn’t really think about it much until I knew I only had a year left,” Helms explained. “Right now, I don’t know what could be next because I really don’t know what I want to do. But between now and the first of July, I’m going to be working very hard to finalize the new headquarters and get that moving and to make sure our fire stations get the renovations that have been needed for some time.
“I know most of the attention the past couple of years has been on a public safety building for both the fire and police departments, but our stations around the city are just as important,” he said. “For a lot of years our guys have done a lot of work on the stations where they have been assigned, but now those facilities need more work than what they can do while on duty.”
Along with the headquarters that has been on the bottom level of the Center Wheeling Garage since 1976, Station 2 is in North Wheeling, Station 4 is in South Wheeling, and Station 5 is located on Wheeling Island. The Warwood neighborhood is protected by the crew assigned to Station 9, Station 10 is located in Woodsdale, and Station 11 covers Elm Grove.
“Most of our stations need new roofs on them, and there are several other upgrades depending on what station. Some of them have structural issues, too, and those types of things have to be addressed as soon as possible,” Helms explained. “Before I do retire, I want to make sure our men and women are good for the future because those people work very hard, and they deserve to have better facilities.”
The Helms Legacy
Again, the fire chief doesn’t think about things like a legacy or getting credit or recognition.
That is because his job is to save lives, and that includes his firefighters, as well. After growing up in East Ohio, Helms and his wife, Peggy, raised two daughters in the Warwood neighborhood. Not only has he fought for the department’s members, but also for the residents of Wheeling with exhaustive efforts to raise fire prevention awareness, engage children in local schools, and offer free smoke detectors to homes void of the protection.
“Larry is definitely a team player, but he also advocates for the people who serve our fire department both internally and in the community, and our fire department is very well respected in this area and throughout the state of West Virginia,” Herron said. “A lot of progress was realized under Chief Sligar and Chief Johnston, and Chief Helms has continued that for the city of Wheeling.”
Structure fires get the attention, of course, but the duties of members of the Wheeling Fire Department extend far past those orange fire trucks. For the past several years, in fact, the Friendly City’s fire department has responded to a record number of calls because of the medical emergencies in this aging municipality.
“The fire department’s performance has been outstanding under his lead,” the city manager said. “It’s around 80 percent of our calls that involve medical emergencies, and Larry has made vast improvements in that area, as well. The citizens of this city know that when they dial 911, they are going to get very qualified personnel who answer that call. I think our community feels that is a very valuable resource that we have here in Wheeling, and that’s because Larry Helms has accomplished everything that he has accomplished as chief.”
