Third Generation Lakewood Firefighter Retires After 32 Years

For the men in the Anderson family, firefighting has been a “calling.”

Since 1918. 

The last Anderson in three generations of Lakewood firefighters is hanging up his boots, helmet and coat. 

After 32 years of service, Capt. Jack Anderson is retiring from the .

Firefighting has been sort of a family tradition.

Capt. Anderson followed in the footsteps of his father, Jim Anderson, who joined the department in 1951. Jim Anderson had followed the lead of his father, Harry, who joined the department when he returned from World War I.

Get all that?

Someone in the Anderson family has been a firefighter in Lakewood since 1918.

Capt. Jack Anderson started on a cold day in February 1980. He was 23 years old. He and his dad, Jim, worked the same shift at different stations. 

“I always knew after all these years that I could go talk to him about something and he’d understand,” said Jack Anderson. 

Jim Anderson retired from the department in 1985, but just three weeks after retirement, his wife Geraldine, died of a massive heart attack. He’s worked two days a week at the front desk of city hall for the past 25 years.

He recalled what it was like in the early days of fighting fires in Lakewood.

Things were different, from the masks to the clothes and the vehicles. Radios weren’t used yet.

“We put out fires the same, but the horses used to pull the apparatus,” said Jim Anderson, who’s known by many as a Lakewood Fire Department historian. “The attitude is the same. You’ve got to like the job. Some guys come on for a year and say ‘this isn’t for me.’ You have to be dedicated.”

Capt. Jack Anderson said he wouldn’t change a thing about his career.

“It’s been great doing a job I wanted to do, and do it in a city I’ve lived all my life,” he said. “This is a big change. It happens to all of us. I’ll miss it.” 

As Jack headed out the door to respond to a call of what turned out to be a false alarm at on Wednesday, Jim, who was visiting , turned to his son and firmly said, “be careful.”