Hero marks 65 years with the Shelter Island Fire Department
His dream of serving his community as a firefighter had its beginning when he was a boy living by South Ferry, seeing lights in the sky from flames consuming the Prospect Hotel.
But Maurice “Tut” Tuttle’s commitment to service was solidified later, when his friend, Tom Young, inspired him to join the Shelter Island Fire Department.
Harry Truman was president, the average price of a new house was $9,000, a new car cost $1,500 and putting gas in it cost 19 cents a gallon. It was 1951 and Mr. Tuttle was an 18-year-old high school senior.
Last week, on February 3, Mr. Tuttle marked his 65th anniversary with the department where, at 83, he remains an active, though more office-bound member.
The major celebration of his years of service with the department will take place at the Fire District’s Annual Dinner at the Pridwin on June 11. He’ll be honored with an award marking his more than six decades as a volunteer, with proclamations from the town, county and New York State.
But his fellow firefighters couldn’t wait; they held a party in his honor at the Heights Firehouse February 1.
For five years after his high school graduation, Mr. Tuttle worked in the family business at South Ferry and then spent 26 years working for Shelter Island Hardware.
His wife of 60 years, Jackie, remembered a time when he worked all day, came home and answered a call for a fire on West Neck Road and got home too tired to even shower. He woke up, still covered with black soot from the fire, and a severe pain in his stomach. He insisted on showering before being taken to the hospital for an appendectomy.
There were countless emergencies Mr. Tuttle responded to over the years. But like a good fisherman, he’ll speak of the one that got away, remembering a call to a house fire in the Hollows when he and his fellow volunteers were slowed driving down a dirt road to reach the blaze. Luckily, they weren’t delayed for long, but it was a matter of timing he never wanted to repeat.
Mr. Tuttle spoke of his early years of training, which was different from today’s methods. In those days, training was on-the-job, learning to drive trucks and use equipment on the fly. Today, volunteers to the department are required to do much more extensive training, since the equipment needed to fight modern fires has become more complex.
For 35 years, Mr. Tuttle has been department’s treasurer, a job he still enjoys today, despite the four months a year he and Jackie spend in Florida. Jackie is well known to Islanders as the woman who served as fire district secretary until her retirement in July 2013 after 25 years.
Mr. Tuttle was also treasurer of the Shelter Island Volunteer Exempt Benevolent Firemen’s Association (SIVEBFA) prior to the Heights and Center departments merging in the 1990s. He picked right up where he left off, becoming treasurer of the SIVEBFA for the merged department.
He’s a long-time member of the American Legion, where he’s the only original member of the honor guard. Under his leadership, the Legion Hall was renovated, including installation of the bowling alleys.
Although he never sought to be chief of the department, Mr. Tuttle served as a fire commissioner for six years during the crucial period when the Center and Heights departments were merging.
