Retired Atlantic County fire marshal keeps fire in his belly with firefighting museum

.....Pleasantville Fire Department.

“It has been some career,” he said in the museum Dec. 30, after his last day at work. His retirement was effective at midnight Dec. 31. “If I had to do it again, I’d do it all again.”

Swartz, 78, grew up in Pleasantville near the fire station. As a kid, he used to watch the firetrucks leave to go out on calls, and eventually started hanging around the station — washing the trucks and locking the station’s doors when crews responded to fires.

During that time is when he earned his nickname, “Whitey” because of his hair, which he said was always white. He has preferred it to his given name since, he said.

When he turned 21 in 1958, he was able to join the department as a volunteer. From there, he spent 30 years making his way through the ranks until he retired as deputy chief in 1989. Throughout that time, he also has been a fire photographer. Many of his photographs of fires are on display at the museum.

Swartz then moved on to the Atlantic County Fire Marshal’s Office, where he worked since 1990. In 1991, he was tapped to be Atlantic County’s fire marshal.

He has seen firefighting change drastically, he said. He remembered writing fire calls on a giant chalkboard in Pleasantville, then ringing engine bells like the ones on display in his museum to alert companies of a fire, because they didn’t have radios.

“Hey, we got the job done,” he said. He also points to aging volunteers in many departments who aren’t being replaced by younger recruits as a key difference between how he started his career and finished it.

“That’s why now when we have a really big fire, we used to have one or two companies go; now we have three or four,” he said. “They don’t need the trucks there. We need the manpower, and that’s a big change.”

Swartz said his most memorable fire was at the Peter Lumber Co. in Pleasantville in 1981. He said it was a 10-alarm blaze, and crews were at the scene for more than 24 hours. He said the fire was electrical and caused about $1.5 million in damages, but no one was hurt.

“That was the biggest one,” he said. “You always have all kinds of memories.”

The Atlantic County freeholders looked back on Swartz’s career at their last meeting Dec. 30, when Swartz was honored with proclamations from the Board of Chosen Freeholders and the County Executive’s Office.

“You’ve been so good to this county and for this county,” said outgoing Freeholder Frank Sutton. The freeholders also commended Swartz for his 13 years as the county’s fire coordinator and said he was instrumental in designing the Canale Training Center, which was built in 1990. Swartz also started the Valor Awards and 50-year service award programs to honor the county’s firefighters.

The freeholders chose David Buzby to replace Swartz at its Nov. 18 meeting.

Throughout his career, Swartz collected firefighting memorabilia. His first piece was a retired Pleasantville truck he acquired in 1968. From there, his collection grew to 15 trucks, including a 1780 hand pumper he bought in England.

“I always liked mechanics,” Swartz said, adding that how the antique machine worked drew him to collect them.

The museum began as a small garage next to the Pleasantville firehouse and was expanded twice in the 1970s. It was moved in 2004 next to Swartz’s home in Galloway Township. He said that now, many seek him out with donations from fire departments around the state.

Swartz said he plans to spend a lot of his time in retirement in the museum, cleaning up artifacts and helping to give tours with his wife of 55 years, Joy. He also plans to still take pictures at fires.

Contact Christie Rotondo:

609-272-7275

CRotondo@pressofac.com