Lester A. Helfrich (Chief)
Date of Birth: 1929
Date of Death: September 12, 2013

IN MEMORY OF LESTER A. HELFRICH 
September 12, 2012
Shift Commander, Baltimore City Fire Department (Retired)
Chief Helfrich retired on June 27, 2000

The Cascabel Volunteer Fire Department was started and organized by Chief Helfrich after he retired from the BCFD in or around 2000. He and his wife Jean had moved out there to help their son who owns a ranch. (I remember Les contacting me during that time period to tell me how they took an old military vehicle and made a fire engine out of it.) Later I received the dreaded news that I was purposely putting off via e-mail from the Cascabel Fire Department that Chief Helfrich had passed away on September 12.

At the time of his death, he was 84 years old, which means he was born sometime in 1929. Although ’29 was the year the stock market crashed and the “Great Depression” took hold on the nation’s economy, the Helfrich family seemed to be very well off. Les’ father was a corporate officer for a large national manufacturing company that had an office located in Baltimore. The family lived in the old mansion that overlooks Twin Oaks Road, in Linthicum not far from the railroad tracks. The community of Twin Oaks surrounds the historic house today. The mansion was built in 1857 by William Linthicum and at one time was owned by US Congressman J. Charles Linthicum.

Les is the only person I know who rode a horse to school. Growing up in Linthicum in the 1930s he actually rode a horse to the (old) Linthicum Elementary School on Camp Meade Road, near the Linthicum Fire Station. He tied the horse to a hitching post attended class then rode home. I’m quiet sure the horse made him very popular among his classmates.

Later, most likely when Les was a teenager, the Helfrich family moved to a farm on Hammonds Lane, Brooklyn Park. A large portion of the farm is located where the community of Sunnyfield is today. The house and out buildings are still located there. It was at some point after the move that Les joined the Brooklyn Community VFD. (Circa 1945 – 1947).

He joined the Navy and served 4 years during the early 1950's.

Les was very active with the fire department and was an avid student of fire protection. He attended every fire training opportunity that was available through the University of Maryland’s Fire Service Extension program (today’s MFRI), attended every station and Fifth District regional firefighting drill. He responded to fires and rescues, took photos of incidents throughout the county and drew diagrams of apparatus and hose line placement that occurred on the fires. He also kept albums of the photos, diagrams and newspaper clippings of fires in the Baltimore metro area. He studied these documents to determine best practices to be carried out on the fire ground. Les also graduated from Glen Burnie High School. At the school he was a member of the Forest Fire Fighter Service, where-by students would respond to brush and field fires on an old stake-body truck to assist the county’s firefighters.

Helfrich drove one of Brooklyn VFD’s engines to the tragic Arundel Park fire that occurred on the evening of January 29, 1956. The Mack pumper was the second unit to arrive on the scene. He pumped off of the hydrant located near the Park’s parking lot and supplied much needed water to the other engines. He also became a part-time fire instructor with the University of Maryland Fire Service Extension teaching many north county firefighting training classes.

He was hired by the Baltimore City Fire Department and graduated from the Baltimore City Fire School in October 1957. Before long the fire department management became aware of Les’ extensive training background and he was assigned to the “fire school” as an instructor where he was later promoted to lieutenant in the 1960s.

According to Murrays’ "The Unheralded Heroes," a six-alarm fire was burning out of control at the Continental Oil Company at 3400 Fairfield Road on December 23, 1965. The fire was a result of a powerful explosion that ruptured a pipeline containing benzene, a highly colorless flammable liquid.

Murray wrote, “The blast had ruptured a pipe line and fed benzene into the flames…Tenth Battalion Chief Edward Callahan and Lieut. Lester Helfrich (F.S.) donned aluminum suits and walked into the flames with a wood plug, but they were unable to make it fit in the broken pipe and were forced to retreat.” Still a gutsy move!

In 1975-76 when Les was a captain assigned to Engine 35 and Truck 21 in Brooklyn, he became very involved in responding to hazardous materials incidents that were all to common to the Brooklyn-Fairfield-Curtis Bay area. He worked with the Chorine Institute, a national organization, to produce a movie that educated and trained firefighters and industry personnel to safely handle the dangerous chemical during leaks, fires and other types of emergencies. Many firefighters owe their good health, and in some cases their lives, thanks to the training that Les Helfrich provided as a result of the movie.

Les was a member of the Mid Chesapeake Marine Emergency Response Group (MCMERG) formed to address marine fires and accidents in the port, bay and along the bay’s tributaries

I have provided two photos. The one with him kneeling wearing the “cap” was probably taken in the early 1950s. I’m not sure about the other. I think it may have been have been while he was taking a MFRI class at College Park. The photo seems to indicate him standing in a parking area maybe near the old Fire Service Extension offices above the old College Park fire station. The name of the officer he is standing next to is Captain J. William Hoffman, but I am not sure what department the captain represents.