Delaware VFD has generations serving – Firefighting is in their blood
WANDA ENGLISH BURNETT
Pictured from left are Trey Einhaus, son of Randy Einhaus, and Melvin Dwenger, father of Baylee Dwenger. They are just two duos who serve on the Delaware Volunteer Fire Department.
Ask any firefighter on the Delaware Volunteer Fire Department and they will tell you they love serving the community. The common theme is they truly enjoy helping others and being with each other.
It is often said that firefighters are a “brotherhood.” At the Delaware VFD they take it to a whole new level with multiple generations serving.
Most of the members have had a relative or someone they looked up to in the fire department. While you don’t have to be related to serve, it seems everyone there becomes grafted by the very ritual itself – hearing the tones drop, feeling the adrenaline rush and heading out to help.
Melvin Dwenger has 42 years under his belt and has served in nearly every capacity including Chief for many years. His daughter, Baylee, just 25 years old, grew up hearing the tones and “running around the firehouse.” She’s an EMT and according to the guys, “One heck of a tanker driver.” Baylee said it just feels natural to be at the firehouse – kind of an extension of home. Melvin got initiated into the firefighting business when he would be with his father, just picking up after a fire when he was very young, not old enough to be a member.
Melvin stepped down as Chief with Ron Bushhorn now taking the helm. Melvin said Ron’s daughter, Karley, is a student at Butler University and will be joining the group soon as an EMT, in between going to school to become a medical doctor.
Longtime member of the Delaware VFD Randy Einhaus Jr. and his son, Trey Einhaus, 21, are a father-son firefighting pair. Randy served on the Westport Fire Dept. several years before moving to the Delaware area, where he’s just a short distance from the firehouse. He’s been at Delaware about 18 years. Trey came on in the fall of 2022, when he was just 18-years-old, but feels like Baylee, saying he’s always been around. Trey said the fire department is all he’s ever known and it becomes addicting. He admitted when he gets to the firehouse and sees one of the older firemen already there, “a little bit of calm comes over me.” It’s not that he can’t do the job, it’s that he knows he has expert help and they work together as a team.
Like Baylee and Trey, Steven Stepleton grew up being at the firehouse. He remembers a room dedicated to children of the firefighters where they would play while their parents were having a meeting. “It seemed like we were there a lot,” he noted. He became a Junior Cadet with the Osgood VFD when he was 15 years old.
Steven remembers the days when Steve Wilhoit (long-time Osgood firefighter) and Norman Kappes (now deceased) and his parents all lived on Walnut Street in Osgood. “It was a race to see who would be at the firehouse the quickest!” He laughed. Those men, along with his own dad, mentored Steven and he says instilled in him the love for helping others through their own selfless lives.
When his father-in-law gave him and his wife property near Delaware, it just made sense for him to become a member there too. Steven says he wants to give back to the community who has given so much to him. He is an Excise Officer with the Indiana State Police and has a true love for helping people.
Rodney Stepleton has held many titles over the years but is now the Assistant Chief at Osgood and also runs with Delaware. “It’s just a small community and everyone needs volunteers,” he noted. He works for the Town of Osgood, so he’s a good candidate for daytime runs. “I started volunteering with Rescue 69 (now Ripley County EMS) many years ago but wanted to do more,” Rodney told The Versailles Republican.
“It’s not for everybody,” Rodney noted, but said he can honestly say he thoroughly enjoys every time he gets called out to help. “Everybody knows everybody here,” he said, adding, “we just want to be here for the community. He agrees him and his son, Steven, have a special bond and believes doing the rescue work together has made it even tighter.
Small fire departments across the county can use volunteers. What you don’t hear the firemen talking about or see them doing, are the hundreds of hours of training, cleaning up, and fundraising they do just to keep the doors open. They don’t complain. They just keep going.
Names were mentioned such as Richard Schutte, who was an original member of the Delaware VFD, who is still the treasurer. Also, Guy Craig was fondly remembered with his nephew Justin Miller still being on the department and also serving as a paid firefighter for Greensburg.
“Unbeatable brotherhood,” was one description of the department in Delaware. They are close. They have been there for each other and the community through the bad times and good times.
If you’re interested in being a part of this group, you can just drop by the firehouse the first Monday of the month at 5452 N SR 129 in Delaware or call 812-689-4000. You can also email them at delawarevfd@gmail.com.
The Delaware VFD is 16 members strong and welcome others to become part of their close-knit family.
Their first Lent Fish Fry of the season will be held March 6 from 4-7 p.m. at the firehouse. They invite the public to join them. When asked what made the biggest difference at the fire department, Melvin was quick to say, “Building this building,” as we sat in their facility at Delaware.
You might not be cut out to be a firefighter or EMT, but you can go to the dinners and do your part. They are waiting for you!
