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HILLSBOROUGH: Firefighter stayed for the company he kept

By Eileen Oldfield, Staff Writer
William Melenchuk Jr. recognized for 60 years volunteering
   When he joined Hillsborough Fire Company No. 2 in 1950, William Melenchuk was just following in his father’s footsteps, he said.
   Sixty years later, the New Amwell Road resident no longer dons fire fighting equipment when there’s a fire in town — he says he is too old for it now — but he is nonetheless still an active member of the fire company.
   Quite simply, he liked it then and still likes it now.
   ”I enjoyed the membership, the (fire company) members, the firefighters themselves,” Mr. Melenchuk, 83, said. “It’s like a big club, like a family. You get attached with the other firemen and their families, and you just stay in.”
   The fire company honored Mr. Melenchuk’s years of service recently, where he’s been a company trustee and served on various committees, with a recognition from the company and a New Jersey Senate and Assembly resolution recognizing his service. Assemblyman Pete Biondi, R-Hillsborough, presented the resolution, which was a surprise for Mr. Melenchuk.
   ”I was very surprised that Mr. Biondi came and had gotten the award from the state,” he said.
   When Mr. Melenchuk joined the company, it didn’t have a building, and the company bought all its fire trucks and equipment rather than the town, he said. As a result, he spent many years selling raffle tickets for various fundraisers, and working at those fundraisers.
   Like today’s firefighters, Mr. Melenchuk needed to attend training before he could be an active firefighter. At the time, there were only two schools in the state for firefighters to attend, and he only needed a few courses to fight fires, he recalled.
   ”Today, to be a fireman, they have at least eight to nine different schools to attend, because everything is so involved with the equipment,” he said. “Fire fighting has changed to (such) an extent now. In the olden days, we didn’t have the equipment we have now. You can’t compare today’s equipment to the equipment we had 20 years ago.”
   In his years with the company, Mr. Melenchuk remembers several barn fires where livestock needed to be removed from the scene, though he did not recall the years those fires occurred. In addition, he remembered a fire that destroyed a bowling alley that used to be on Route 206, where the Cost Cutters store was located before it closed.
   ”We’ve had our share of big fires through the years,” Mr. Melenchuk said. “We’ve been lucky throughout life. I think we’ve only lost two people in those fires.”
   ”We’ve been very lucky in the fires and our firemen not getting hurt,” he added. “Nobody’s gotten hurt because everyone looks out for everyone else.”
   The town’s expanded significantly since Mr. Melenchuk moved to Hillsborough from New York, and seems to keep growing each year, he said.
   ”When I first came here, there was one gas station, one bank, and you had to go into Somerville to buy anything,” he said.”
   Throughout his years with the company, he’s noticed his fellow fire fighters’ knowledge and involvement increase as they spend more time there.
   ”You see the change when they are in the company for a while, because they are more involved,” Mr. Melenchuk said. “They have more knowledge of the fires and they care about their brother firemen.”
   ”We all feel for our brother firemen,” he added. “If one of our firemen gets sick or their family gets sick, we’re there. And they do the same for their brother firemen if they are there.”