continued:

Using his knowledge and experience from the creation and operation of the PECO training grounds, George built the training grounds for the Fort Washington Fire Company.  The construction of the training grounds, begun in 1968, was made possible by George’s coordination of countless hours of volunteer labor and as he puts it, “scavenged materials and equipment.”  The training grounds, which resulted in little  cost to the Township, has served to better prepare not only the firefighters of Fort Washington Fire Company, but also the firefighters of nearly every surrounding fire company in the area for years.  George’s efforts have been memorialized as our training grounds have been utilized as a model for future training grounds around the county and country, including the Montgomery County Fire Academy in Conshohocken.  The creation of the Fort Washington training grounds is by far his proudest accomplishment.  

George’s first fire call was a barn fire on Shaeff Lane, while his most memorable fire was the oil pipeline fires which burned for several days.  His favorite piece of apparatus is every Rescue truck the Company has ever owned.  He is fond of these Heavy Rescue trucks due to their winches and the specialized equipment they carry.     

During his sixty-eight years with the company, George has witnessed first hand the tremendous changes experienced by both the Fort Washington Fire Company and the firefighting service as a whole.  While he promotes change and adaptation, he has observed the tremendous pressure to obtain certifications from “qualified” institutions.  George, as many would agree, feels that these courses are being force fed to firefighters by less than qualified instructors.  As he put it, “those who wrote the books on the subject, the ones with the practical experience, are no longer considered qualified.”  Many of the members of the Fort Washington Fire Company agree… they will tell you that much of what they know about firefighting did not come from a book or a school, but rather from “Uncle” George.

Andrew Rathfon is a volunteer firefighter and a police officer for Upper Merion Township. Rathfon attended Wittenberg University where he majored in history and minored in political science and education. Information for this article comes from an interview with George Haggar.