When Testa retired from Dupont, the couple decided to move to Columbia Falls.
It was 2009. A few months later, in January 2010, Testa started a second career as a volunteer firefighter, serving another 11 years with Bad Rock, until he recently retired from that department.
All told, Testa has been a firefighter for 51 of 71 years of life.
It’s been rewarding work, he said.
“I helped build this place,” he said, looking around at the Bad Rock fire hall, which was built a few years ago.
When Testa first moved here, he said he couldn’t believe the old hall, which sat just off Highway 206 on a corner at Kelly Road that was host to many accidents over the years.
Working with fellow firefighters and chief Kirk Katzenmeyer, they put together a modest plan to build new bays at first, and then add on a hall later, thinking the fire board, which governed the budget, would like that plan better.