Longport Volunteer Fire Deparment's First Lady Honored

WINNIE ------A copy of a photo , from 1976 , when Winnie Adams was an active firefighter. . Winnie Adams, who recently stepped down as president (not chief) of Longport's volunteer fire company after 30-plus years. She's part of a multi-generation family with the fire co, and is still an active firefighter even if she's not president anymore. Thursday January 30 , 2008



From the Atlantic City Press Published: Wednesday, March 05, 2008

By MARTIN DeANGELIS Staff Writer, 609-272-7237

Winnie Adams is probably getting used to not being president of the Longport Fire Department. But it could take her a while, because she held that title for more than 30 years before she finally stepped down a few weeks ago.

So Adams had plenty of time to get used to being president of the all-volunteer department, but she was an unusual choice when her colleagues elected her back in 1976. She still remembers the newspaper story that called her the first woman president of a fire department in New Jersey history.

Still, Adams wants to make it clear that she wasn't Longport's big fire boss for that long run as president - an office, by the way, that doesn't actually come with an office in the borough's compact, crowded firehouse.

"The chief runs it," she explained shortly after she stepped down, and the town officially honored her with a Winnie Adams day. "I did all the administration."