Proctorsville’s Bob Glidden retires after 33 years as fire chief Glidden has served as a firefighter for 56 years

By Shawn Cunningham
© 2026 Telegraph Publishing LLC

The year was 1970. Richard Nixon was in the second year of his first term, gasoline averaged 36¢ per gallon, the minimum wage was $1.60 and Bob Glidden was starting his career as a volunteer firefighter in Proctorsville. He was 12.

Next week, he will retire from the fire service after 56 years, 33 of which were as Proctorsville’s chief. Next Tuesday, the department will be holding an Open House to congratulate him and wish him well in retirement followed by a “ride home” with a parade of fire trucks from a number of mutual aid partners.

Volunteer fire departments often have “junior” programs to help ignite young people’s interest in serving and begin their training. But it was a different time and Glidden and now-retired Ludlow Chief Pete Kolenda were actually fighting fires at age 13. In a recent interview, Glidden spoke of some of the changes he’s seen in his time with the department.

“I was the first one to have turnout gear in 1979,” said Glidden, referring to the heavy duty coats and pants worn by firefighters today. “I bought my own. Up to then we had those rubber raincoats and rollup boots. They were nasty, nasty. We did have the best helmets out there at the time, but you wouldn’t put anybody into them today.”

The advent of better equipment – including “air paks” – made it possible for firefighters to work inside burning structures rather than simply pouring water on a blaze from outisde. Glidden and Kolenda were the first in the department to use the self-contained breathing equipment.

Another difference from today is dispatching. Back in the day, there was something called the “red line.” It was a number that people would call to report a fire, and it would ring in the homes of firefighters in Proctorsville and Cavendish.

It was like the now defunct party line, but the phone would ring continuously until someone in one of the connected homes answered, took details of the fire, then went to the fire station to sound the alarm. Today the Proctorsville, Cavendish and Chester departments are dispatched by Hartford Fire, which Glidden praised for their professionalism.

One of the largest fires during Glidden’s 56 years on the job was just around the corner from the current station when the woolen mill  burned in 1982. The massive structure was torn down and is now the site of the Richard Svec Memorial Green. Glidden said 16 fire departments responded to the scene.

Bingo for a new station

As the fire department outgrew its small station, its members got to work on raising money for a larger building.

Glidden recalls holding “Big Bucks Bingo” to pay for building the current fire station. Busloads of folks from Massachusetts and elsewhere traveled to participate in this bingo on steroids. It cost $500 to play and the department was taking in as much as $30,000 per month to put toward the building.

Between the State of Vermont wanting a share of the proceeds and a mandated no smoking policy, “that killed it,” said Glidden.

While Proctorsville, like several other departments in the area, is a fire district with taxing authority, over the years, it conducted fund-raising to keep the tax burden in check, Glidden said.

Over the years the number of calls for automobile crashes has increased and become a substantial portion of the department’s annual run count of about 200 calls. Glidden attributes the increase to people driving faster and to the use of cell phones. The department has also had a lot of experience responding to flooding in recent years. Based on that, the department has been training on swift and ice water rescues as well as technical rescues for lost and injured hikers.

“Now when people get into trouble, they call the fire department,” said Deputy Chief Bob Glidden, Glidden’s son who who is slated to become the third in his family to be chief of the department on July 1.

The younger Glidden praises his father’s openness to expand the service with new skills suggested by younger members, including water and technical rescue work. The younger Glidden jokes that his father can’t swim and wouldn’t want to rappel on ropes, but he was open to firefighters who wanted to learn to do that.

In addition to a junior firefighter program, the department has held annual fire safety programs at Cavendish Town Elementary for more than 15 years, according to Chief Glidden. These consist of an assembly for the school for a lesson in firefighting with demonstrations and then brief visits to each classroom. Then the fifth and sixth graders get to learn how to use a fire extinguisher.

Earning respect as a department

As firefighting — and answering a wider variety of calls — has become more regional, the respect of other departments can be vital.

“I’ve learned more at a fire by going to Chester and being with Arnold (Stoddard),” said Glidden. “He was a cool as a cucumber, he wouldn’t holler, nothing seemed to bother him at the fire scene. He was a good one to follow and learn from.”

Glidden said Proctorsville worked hard to earn the respect of other departments, and Stoddard gave them a chance and put them on Chester’s “run card,” which has instructions on which mutual aid resources to call in certain types of circumstances. Being on another department’s run card means your department is considered competent and reliable.

“It can take a long time to get that respect, but less time to lose it,” said Glidden. Currently, Proctorsville has 20 to 25 members, making it the strongest it has ever been, said his son Bob Glidden, Jr.

While the fire service in Proctorsville can be a family affair, that can sometimes get a little strained. Bob Sr.’s wife Karlene Glidden (who is also a firefighter) recalls that after five years of marriage her husband went to Pennsylvania with another department member to pick up a new fire engine and called her from the road on the way home saying “Happy Anniversary, I’m taking Roger Sheehan out to supper.”

“And we’re (now) married almost 44 years – can you imagine?” Karlene chuckled. “I let him off the hook for that one.”

The Proctorsville Volunteer Fire Department’s Open House for outgoing Chief Glidden will be held from 4 to 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday, June 30 at its station, 513 Main St. in Proctorsville. The event is open to the public.