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PENNINGTON: Marciante is Fireman of the Year

By John Tredrea, Special Writer
   The Pennington Fire Company without Charles “Chico” Marciante?
   ”Hard to imagine!” would doubtless be the answer of every present member of that company, and scores of past members, as well.
   The mercurial, outspoken and humorous Mr. Marciante, named the Pennington Fire Company’s Fireman of the Year for 2012 at a recent company dinner, joined the Pennington firefighters in 1971, when he was in his early 20s. Now, 42 years later, in addition to being named Fireman of The Year by Chief Jim DeForte, “Chico” has been honored for being one of the company’s Top 10 Responders in 2012.
   Considering that answering fire calls is physically, as well as mentally and emotionally demanding, it’s impressive that Mr. Marciante, a 64-year-old grandfather and retired electrician and official, like his father Frances before him, of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW), made the Top 10.
   Many other members of the Top 10 are in their early 20s (two of them, Shannon Warwick and Kelly Holcombe are women).
   He joined the company at the suggestion of Bill Fitzcharles, who was chief at the time.
   ”I joined because I thought fighting fires would be exciting,” Mr. Marciante said in the Viva Gelato coffee shop on South Main Street in Pennington early last Friday morning.
   ”My attitude about it changed when my kids were born. After that, I looked at it in terms of duty to the community.”
   The company elected Mr. Marciante chief in 1981, and he held that post for eight years.
   Of the thousands of fire calls he has answered, one that stands out in his mind was the great blaze that destroyed O’Hanlon Hall, a large dormitory on the campus of The Pennington School, in 1980.
   ”It was started by an electrical problem in the basement and spread very quickly,” he said. “I went up to the third floor, and it was fully involved in flames from ceiling to floor, and I said to myself: ‘Oh, boy. It’s gonna go down,’”
   Which it did, after keeping scores of firefighters from Pennington and nearby towns on the scene for several days,
   The chief of the company at that time was Michael “Mickey” Pinelli, who Mr. Marciante credits with teaching him much about firefighting. Mr. Pinelli, who moved out of Pennington years ago, also was the town’s superintendent of public works for many years. Mr. Pinelli’s sons, Doug and David, are both members of the company and both are former chiefs.
   ”When I was chief, I knew I would always have a great core crew when the alarm went off,” Mr. Marciante said.
   ”I knew Mickey would be there, and I knew Tom Blackwell senior and his three sons would be there. I hope everybody in Pennington knows what the Blackwells have done for this town,” said Mr. Marciante.
   The late Tom Blackwell senior owned and operated Pennington Furnace on North Main Street. His sons Mark, Tom, a former chief, and Neal are still there, and all three are still members of the fire company.