He’s 97 and still serving strong: Lansford fire police captain says volunteering keeps him going

30-plus-year career as a fire policeman is quite an achievement.

But what makes Lansford’s Mike Knies even more special is the fact that his career didn’t start until an age by which most people are retired.

Knies, 97, has served as fire police captain for American Fire Co. No. 1 since 1985.

“They’re always asking me about my age,” Knies said.

When the siren sounds and firefighters head out for a call, Knies responds right alongside them, no matter how late at night, or how deep in winter.

And long after the fire is put out, Knies is still on duty, directing traffic as the firefighters return to the station and back their rigs into the firehouse to await the next call.

No one would fault Knies for hanging it up and handing off the reins of the fire police to someone younger.

So why does he keep going?

“Because the doctor says so,” he says, laughing.

“Every 6 months I go for an examination and they say ‘keep doing what you’re doing,’ or else I’m gonna kick the bucket I guess.”

Dedication

Not even American Fire Co. No. 1 Chief Joseph Greco can say that he’s been a part of the company as long as Knies. He joined 10 years after Knies did.

Greco said Knies and the fire police are an integral role on the scene of emergencies. Fire police help keep cars at a safe distance so firefighters can do their jobs. On top of that, they help manage bystanders and photographers who crowd around a scene, and keep cars from running over and potentially bursting fire hoses.

“He shows true dedication to that calling. We’re appreciative of it,” he said.

Finding volunteer firefighters is hard in and of itself. Finding volunteer fire police, a job which doesn’t necessarily have the same excitement as a responding firefighters, is even harder.

Greco said that Knies takes the job just as seriously now as he did 20 years ago.

“We’re amazed he’s stuck with it this long. It’s not the most glamorous job, it’s very mundane, but it is vital,” Greco said.

Second career

For Knies, the fire police is a hobby that has turned into a second career. While he wasn’t a member of American Fire Co., he can remember a lot about it from his youth, like how they used to train by jumping off a second-story roof into a net held by four or five firefighters.

Or the time when Jimmy Dorsey, part of the famous Dorsey Brothers, stopped by the American Fire Co. No. 1’s fireman’s ball and took over the band. Jimmy was in town to visit his parents, who lived on Abbott Street.

“They took over the band, they played four to five numbers, and away they went. I was there that time,” he recalled. “They were OK.”

He was first and foremost a blacksmith, working for the mines from the end of World War II until they closed, then for factories in the Reading area until his retirement.

He inherited that trade from his father, a first-generation immigrant. When he was a teenager, he went to work in a shipyard near Philadelphia. When he came of age, he joined the Navy, and was set to be a blacksmith on an aircraft carrier. But a week before he shipped out, the U.S. dropped the atomic bomb on Japan, and the aircraft carriers came to a halt.

He did train briefly as a firefighter in the Navy, and extinguished a fire in a burning aircraft engine, but it would be 40 years later before he actually joined up with American Fire Co. No. 1.

When he finally became a fire policeman, in the 1980s, he had to go to training. Most of the guys were in their 20s and 30s. Knies was in his 50s.

He recalled how his instructor wanted a volunteer from the class to practice rescuing an unconscious person from a second-floor window using a ladder.

Despite having 15 years on everyone else there, Knies volunteered.

“Everybody’s looking around, and I put my hand up,” he said. “I never did stuff like that before. I put him on my knee and walked one by one right down to the bottom.”

In harm’s way

While he excelled in training, Knies said running into a burning building was never for him. He sees enough excitement on the road directing traffic.

Over the years, he says, it’s become a more dangerous job as people on the road are more distracted and more hurried. One of his fire police officers had his toes run over by a driver.

“They don’t care. They just keep going,” he said.

Most of the close calls come when Knies is directing traffic so the firefighters can back their rigs back into the firehouse.

One time, he had his signal wand (a cone-shaped flashlight) knocked out of his hand by an underage driver who was driving too fast while turning left onto Route 209 from the road coming from Summit Hill.

Another time, an older woman ran into his flag while making the same turn, despite Knies being covered in reflective clothing.

“I said ‘What’s the big hurry?’ She said, ‘I didn’t see you,’ ‘If you didn’t see me, you shouldn’t be driving,” he recalled.

Knies still drives, and he plans to continue responding to calls as long as he is able. And as long as he still wants to respond, American Fire Co. No. 1 is happy to have him.

“I’m happy to see that he still wants to volunteer. We’ve joked with him, and he said, ‘As long as I’m still with it, I’m with you guys,” Greco said.

The Neighborhood Spotlight is our monthly series highlighting our volunteer firefighters. If you know someone who should be included, email mgouger@tnonline.com.