Looking over the restored white helmet his father once wore, John Wagner Jr. laughed thinking about how difficult it was to find one that didn’t have charred edges or a melted plastic face shield.
“Chiefs don’t have burnt helmets. My dad has a burnt helmet,” he said. John Wagner Sr., a member of the Estell Manor Volunteer Fire Company for 37 years who also served as its chief and president, died of a heart attack Saturday. He was 53.
But even when John Wagner Sr. led the company as chief, his family, who were all involved in the company together, said he never gave up his hands-on, aggressive approach to putting out fires.
His youngest brother, Matthew, remembered a fire on Christmas Eve when the ceiling had collapsed on him three times. When that caused him to lose his helmet, John Wagner Sr. threw Matt out of what they thought was a door, but was actually a wall that had burned away.
That was just his style. ..“It doesn’t matter who you are, what nationality, race, religion, you have your back and nobody is going to turn on you out there,” John Wagner Jr. said.
“He taught us that hard work and dedication never goes unnoticed,” his son Peter said.
John Wagner Sr. not only dedicated himself to firefighting, he helped others in the area learn as an Atlantic County fire instructor for 15 years under Chief Mike Corbo.