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6B Wednesday, April 27, 2011 Bulletin, Progressive, Record, Reporter
Indian 00hief ,5"5
INSIDE THE
FIREHOUSE
TOM FORSTER
Assistant Fire Chief
Plumas Eureka Fire Department
The Plumas County fire
service is honored to have in
our midst one of the longest
serving volunteer firefighters
in the nation. Chief Jim
Hamblin of Indian Valley
Fire Department has now
served for over 65 years!
James Richard Hamblin
was born Sept. 23, 1929, in
Greenville, the son of Bill
and Margurite Hamblin.
His family goes back three
generations on one side in
Greenville, and four genera-
tions in Indian Valley as
descendants of the Schieser
family. Jim's grandfather,
William Lewis Hamblin,
came from Canada. Jim's
first wife was Margie Myers,
and her grandmother and his
grandfather went to school
together in Canada.
Jim's father William (Bill)
James was born in Tay-
lorsville. His grandfather
William Lewis and father Bill
were both skilled black-
smiths, and his grandfather
was a local judge. "The court-
house was In back of the jail,
and they named a street after
him, Hamblin Avenue, ' said
Jim. Bill became a mechanic
also, and went on to be the
Ford dealer in Greenville and
Quincy in the 1920s through
the 1940s. They sold Ford
Model Ts and Model As to
many people in the area. The
dealership in Quincy was
called Plumas Motors and in
Greenville the dealership
was called Service Motor
Company. Then World War II
began, and the government
bought them out, taking all
the cars and tires and equip-
ment for the war effort. Bill
then started an auto repair
business called Hamblin's
Auto Repair.
Jim's older brother William
K. Hamblin became a "sleeper
fireman" in Quincy in 1935,
living at the fire station and
responding to calls. William
was then drafted into the
Army in 1940. He fought in
the South Pacific and was
killed in battle in Okinawa in
1945. As fhe sole surviving
son, Jim Hamblin was not
drafted.
Young Jim became a
"junior fireman" in 1945. "I
was interested, and, along
with three or four other kids,
went to all the drills and
helped at fires. Greenville
Chief Cy Hall asked if I would
join. Another kid was going
to join also but backed out. I
did not." After being a junior
member, Jim formally joined
Jim Hamblin supervises the transfer of a sick patient to a helicopter. Photos by Tom Forster
Hamblin keeps a watchful eye as the helicopter staff loads the patient for the trip to the hospital.
Feb. 13, 1948. His father Bill
was an original member of
the Greenville Fire Depart-
ment, serving until he moved
to Quincy in the 1930s. The
family moved back to
Greenville in 1939.
Jim became an officer in
the Greenville Fire Depart-
ment in 1957, serving as as-
sistant fire chief. "Cy Hall
was the chief then, from 1932
- 1983; he served for 51
years," said Jim. He was pro-
moted to fire chief in 1983, fol-
lowing Cy's retirement.
Jim remembers many
changes over the years,
including receiving the first
full sets of protective cloth-
ing, or "turnouts," in the late
1950s. He also remembers the
town installing "Gamewell"
fire alarm pull boxes in the
1940s. When pulled, these
would set off the firehouse
air horn, alerting volunteers.
The location was coded for
each box by the number of
blasts. "We had a separate
fire phone line that rang in
everyone's house, it had a
steady ring until someone
answered. A'lot of times we
would talk on the phone
about what response was
needed before the actual
alarm was sounded," said
Jim.
He remembers his first fire
engine, a 1937 Ford Hirsch
Challenger built in Sacra-
mento: Now fully restored, it
still has a working 500-gpm
rotary gear Waterous-brand
pump. "It could go to a fire
right now," said Jim. "There
have been many changes in
techniques, regulations and
equipment ... it's all changed,
but sometimes gradually."
Firemen's musters were held
for many years in Greenville
during the local celebration
"Gold Diggers" held in July.
"Most of the time the Green-
ville Department took home
the first-place trophy," said
Jim proudly.
Jim followed in his father's
footsteps and became a me-
chanic by trade. He worked
at his father's Service Motor
Company, and later the
Plumas Garage and Ham-
blin's Auto Repair. He took
over running Hamblin's Auto
Repair until retiring in 2000.
A highly skilled mechanic, he
performed all kinds of main-
tenance, including working
on heavy equipment. He still
does 90 percent of the mainte-
nance on equipment for the
fire department. "I just don't
want to do the heavy stuff
anymore," said Jim.
Jim married Marge Myers
Hamblin and they had two
children, Cathrine Ann and
Richard William. Jim
married his second wife,
Erma Horn, and was married
until her death in 1996. Jim
married his third wife,
Marion Hatch, on Oct. 4, 1998.
Marion helps out around the
fire department in many
See Hamblin, page 7B
Sudoku Puzzle #2150-D
3
4
2
9
1
2 4
3
7
7 6 5
9
2
7
1
Difficult
5 6
4
8
1
7
1
8
2
3
Sudoku Solution #2140-D
5978124'63
21 8463597
4365971 82
67324891 5
951 736824
8241 59736
169375248
385924671
742681 359
ACROSS
1. Group belief
6. Sharif of "Funny
Gift'
10. End-of-round
signal
14. Rial spender
15. Spot on the Web
16. Lamb's nora de
plume
17. one's time
(waited)
18. Part of QED
19. " fair in love ..."
20. Barely make, with
"out"
21. Raw recruit
24. Rich source of
fossils, perhaps
26. "lch bin
Berliner"
27. Grid coach Amos
Alonzo __
30. Lure into crime
35. Puts together
38. '89 movie based
on a '73 court
decision
40. Baseball's Felipe
or Moises
41. Lenya or
Lehmann
42. Land of the
leprechauns
43. It may be 20/20
45. Was biased
46. "And so "
(Ellerbee
catchphrase)
47. Clunky shoe
49. 1-95, e.g.
51. Sci-fi zapper
55. Worrisome
economic
condition
61. Prefix with corn or
form
62. Chore list heading
63. Bow-toting god
64. Demagnetize, as
a tape
66. Dentist's request
67. __ gin
"Oh, DeerP'
1 } $ 5
14
17
20 21
24 .5
?7
35 36 37
0
43 44
<16
49
55 56 57 58
2
56
69
15
18
American Prolile Hometown Content
68. Tangle, or 13. Emit an intense
disc n'tal gle beam
69. "The World of 22. Hollywood's
Suzie" (1960 Hagen
movie) 23. Wayside retreats
70. 1/1 song ender 25. Prefix meaning
71. Practices with a "false"
pug 28. Pirate's potation
29. Ancient Germanic
DOWN ' invaders
1. Lama land 31. Intended prey for
2. Eleniak of a "puddy tat"
"Baywatch" 32. avis
3. Corvair critic 33. Score after deuce
Ralph 34. Confined, with
4. Hydrocarbon "up"
suffix 35. Hawaiian fish, on
5. Juicy morsels of menus
gossip 36. Touched down
6. Oil gp. since 1960 37. Empire State
7. A+ or B- Building climber
8. Slack-jawed 39. Singer James or
9. Fetch, as stored Jones
data 41. In the doldrums
10. Ward and June's 44. Medieval drudge
younger, for short 45. Borrowed cars,
11. Raines or Cinders e.g.
12. Cheery tune
4/17/2011
48. Friend in the
'hood
50. Of a long-ago era
52. Tropical source of
jelly
53. Any of three Indy
winners
54. Nobel physicist
Bohr
55. Cram into the
overhead
56. " ' the mominT'
57. Yemeni port
58. Bards game show
prop
59. Many a Disney
character
60. Fortuneteller's
opening
65. Sance sound
Electronic Design & Implementation
Toy Train Design Layouts
Equipment Sales & Installation
THX Certified Home Theater Design
Rick@TrebesStudios.com
3215 Hill Crest Drive
Lake Almanor, California 96137
530-596,4166
www.TrebesStudios.com
Freelance Photography
Fine Art Gicl6es
Photo Restoration
Fine Art Photography
Pam@TrebesStudios.c0m