By David Slone
Times-Union

WARSAW – After serving his communities for over three decades, fourth-generation firefighter Kreg Warren was thrown a retirement party on his last official day Wednesday at Warsaw Fire Station No. 3.

He thought maybe six people would show up. There were about 10 times as many.

Kreg, now 55, joined the Mentone Fire Department as a volunteer when he was a junior in high school. Eight years later, he joined the Warsaw Fire Department – now Warsaw-Wayne Fire Territory – when he was 25. 

“My dad was a fire chief and my dad was in the fire service. I’m a fourth-generation firefighter, so my dad, my brother, my grandfather and my dad’s grandfather,” he said about why he became a firefighter. 

As to what his experience has been like, Kreg said, “We’ve probably seen more than our share, but getting to be around the guys and stuff like that, being with the guys – and being 24 hours with the guys – watching TV or eating dinner or going to runs and getting up in the middle of the night and going out in the cold and all of that stuff. It’s been interesting.”

He said firefighting “absolutely” has changed over the years. 

“Examples are, when I came here we had 450 runs a year and now we’re running right around 3,000-plus, so that and we’re gone all the time,” Kreg said. “So we leave in the morning, usually from runs and training and stuff like that, to just everything. We used to run on quite a bit of big fires and wrecks and now it’s more medical.”

He said a firefighter’s got to be fairly educated but he’s also got to be able to roll with the punches as well because things are changing by the day.

“We go on a lot of drug overdoses and things like that, so, yeah, it’s changed a lot,” Kreg said. 

His oldest daughter, Liz Littlejohn, was 6 months old when he joined Warsaw and now all three of his daughters are adults.

“So they’ve been in and out of here and grew up here with the guys. So, the guys mean as much to them as they do to me,” Kreg said. “There’s guys here that text my kids or call my kids or whatever when they need to know something or whatever about me. So the kids really bought into the fact that a lot of the people here, they’re family to them, just as much as they are to me. It’s my second family but it’s also theirs.”

He said retiring will be the first time in his life that he won’t have to get up and go on a run. 

“I’m 55 years old and this is the first time in my life that – my dad was a firefighter all of my life – so this is the end of the road,” Kreg said. 

Everyone says a person knows when it’s time to retire and being 55, he said he knew it was time. He’s had two shoulder surgeries. 

“We’ve got 21-, 22-year-old guys and trying to keep up with that pace, I’m not holding them back but they want to go do things and stuff like that. I’m ready to go,” Kreg said. 

He used to be a lieutenant and a captain, but he’s retiring as just a firefighter.

What’s he going to do in retirement?

“I have no idea. If anybody is looking for an old, fat fireman or whatever, I’m open to suggestions!” he joked. “I don’t know. I’ve done construction and I’ve worked for the highway. I’ve done a lot of different things, but I don’t know what I want to do. I don’t want to work weekends, evenings or in the cold. That’s just how it is.”

Kreg said it’s been a “really nice” job and a very prestigious one, too.

“Every kid wants to be a firefighter, so I got to live it with the real-life fire trucks and do that stuff. It’s been a good deal and it’s paid the bills. I’ve been proud to be a firefighter here in the city of Warsaw. They’ve treated me good. I’ve worked with great people. I’ve worked with super awesome people. So, really, in all honesty, it’s been a great deal. It’s just time to go,” he said. 

He’s also got a grandson with another grandchild on the way so he’ll spend time with them and maybe fish with his dad, Everett “Butch” Warren. 

Diane Warren, Kreg’s mother, said with a son and husband as firefighters, life has been “very, very busy. You miss a lot of events. It is their life, it really is, until it isn’t. And then they become family. But I wouldn’t have it any other way. They did a great job. They’re good people. They help everybody. I love them.”

She said she was always worried about them and still is, but always says her prayers. 

When she found out Kreg was retiring, Diane said she was overwhelmed. “I can’t believe I’m this old that he’s old enough to retire,” she said. “It takes you back, it really does. All of that flashes through your head. It’s bittersweet for me.”

She said Butch got on the Mentone Fire Department in 1970 and has been retired as chief for 10 years now. He served over 52 years at Mentone, plus three years at Burket and one year at Atwood. 

To be a firefighter, Diane said it takes someone who is very caring, somebody who likes their job and is a workerbee. “Dedication is it. And service,” she said.

Butch said his grandfather on his mother’s side was a volunteer firefighter for Warsaw “back in the day,” and his father was a fireman at Burket. But when Kreg decided to become a firefighter, Butch said he never told him.

“I was captain on our fire department and he went to the chief, unbeknownst to me, and said could we start a junior program so we could find out what to do. So they would come up to the station and sweep the floor and help make coffee and stuff like that. And we’d pack hose when we got back and stuff. And I knew nothing about it. They brought that up at a meeting and I was dumbfounded at what was going on, and that’s where he started a junior program at Mentone back in the day,” Butch said.  

He said he is very proud of Kreg and his other son, Kris, who is a firefighter at Mentone. 

In comments he made about Kreg to everyone at the retirement party, Fire Chief Garrett Holderman told Kreg he was a phenomenal human being, he appreciated his years of service, the city isn’t going to be the same without him and wished him the best on his new chapter in life. 

Battalion Chief Rob Barker presented Kreg with a gift from colleagues, which turned out to be a Lou Holtz-autographed football helmet. 

Rhonda and Kreg will be married 34 years in September. As the wife of a firefighter that whole time, she said, “It’s had its moments of ups and downs, but it’s been a wonderful thing that he’s served his community. That’s been his passion. … I’ve just been very proud of him. We’re praying when we hear the tone go off and happy to see him when he returns.”

She said when Kreg first talked about retiring he was around 50. When he got to be 52 and could enter the drop program, she said they knew it was time.

“A lot of things in society are changing. He’s seen a lot of things that I would never wish on anyone, so it’s just time,” Rhonda said. “It’s hard to believe it’s here. You still feel 30 in your head, but you know it’s time for retirement.”

Liz said having a dad who is a firefighter has “been hard at times, but it’s been really, really neat to see him doing great things in the community and seeing how much he loves helping people and seeing how much people love him. It’s been really neat.”

When she found out he was retiring, she said she was happy that “we will have him back, basically. We won’t have to worry about his duty schedule and we won’t have to work around things as much. I know it’s taken a toll on him, just physically, mentally, so I’m proud of him. I think it was time.”

Barker said he’s known Kreg 20 years, meeting him when he started at Station No. 1 and Kreg was the regular driver then. 

“He was like the mentor at that time,” Barker said. “… Right now, he’s the senior guy on our shift, so that’s a huge void to fill. I’ve got new kids who need to get experience from guys like Kreg.”