Photo provided
Butler County firefighter Bobby Wicker (center) accepts a plaque recognizing his service to the department.
DAR/Misty DeJournett
Bobby Wicker is stepping down from the Butler County Fire Department to accept a position in law enforcement with John J. Pershing VA Medical Center.
BCFD honors retiring firefighter
Bobby Wicker, formerly a local Poplar Bluff firefighter and sheriff’s deputy, retired recently and has taken on a new role with the local veterans’ hospital.
Wicker became a firefighter in 1988, starting as a volunteer with the Qulin fire department. He said what first inspired him to become a firefighter was the local grocery store in Qulin catching fire.
“About two or three days after Bradley’s store burned down, I made contact with the fire chief in Qulin and I joined the volunteer fire department,” said Wicker.
From 1988 until 2000, Wicker served as a volunteer with the Qulin fire department. He became a deputy in 1995 for the Butler County Sheriff’s Department and served until 2003, at which time he became a full-time fireman for the Butler County Fire Department.
Wicker remembered the scariest situation he encountered on the job.
“(It) happened about eight years ago when I fell through a floor. I crawled in over a basement and fell through the floor and another fireman helped me get out,” he said.
Despite the danger and long hours the job entailed, Wicker said he enjoyed his years with the department. The other firefighters had become family to him.
“Being a fireman isn’t a job. It isn’t what you get up and do in the morning, it’s who you are. It’s to the core. It’s your daily life every day. It’s hard to step away from,” said Wicker, “but it is a young man’s game and it gets harder to jump off that truck and drag that hose, so it was time to step away.”
Butler County Fire Chief Bob Fredwell said he has known Wicker since he was a deputy for the sheriff’s department and had worked with him a bit before he became a firefighter for the county. The fire department recently recognized Wicker and presented him with a plaque thanking him for his service.
“He’s just a good guy. I’d like to have a bunch more like him. He was dedicated,” said Fredwell. “He was always there when you needed him. He was a good leader and shift commander. I hate losing him, hate to lose any of them, but I wish him well. I think he’ll do good where he’s going.
“We are one big family down here and most fire departments are like that. You know when you live with each other for so long, you become family and Bobby was good. I have good things to say about him.”
Wicker said he is excited about his new position, “and a little nervous, but I think that is normal anytime you go into something new.”
Along with his duties as an officer and a fireman, Wicker said he is also an active Mason and Shriner. He has three children of his own from a previous marriage and his wife also has three children, which the couple raised in the Poplar Bluff area.
Wickers’ newest endeavor has led him back to the role of law enforcement.
He has taken on a position as a police officer and security guard for the John J. Pershing VA Medical Center in Poplar Bluff.
Wicker said he will now be a police officer working mainly in the area of security, “and I will be helping the veterans in the hospital, which I am happy about.”
He explained he is currently in the orientation process for his new position at the veterans’ hospital so he has not begun his officer duties yet. He added that even though he has left the department he will always feel like a part of the fire service family.
The application deadline to fill the open position has passed, according to Fredwell, who said they will now go through the process of testing to hire a replacement and bring in a new member of the family.
“The fire service is one big family. We call each other brothers and that is true, not just inside your own department, but with other departments as well,” said Wicker. “You hear about another fireman getting hurt or passing away in another department and it doesn’t matter where they are in the country, you feel that because we know how he dedicated his life to that.”