Lower Milford Volunteer Firefighter Thanked for 50 Years of Service

By Tad Miller 

In the fall of 1963, the Lower Milford Township Fire Department was called to extinguish a woods fire next to the home of Terry Miller.

Miller has spent the 50 years since responding to the emergencies of others, a milestone for which he was feted Dec. 23 in the same Limeport fire station from where a fire engine responded to quell the woods fire five decades prior.

It is believed that he is the first member to serve 50 years for the department, which was chartered in 1948. The department presented Miller, 74, with an engraved fire ax for his accomplishment.

When the woods fire occurred in 1963, Miller and his then-young family had been living in the township for just two months, having moved there from Emmaus. His wife, Sharon, was burning trash and sparks spread to the woods on a particularly dry day. When the smoke cleared, then-Fire Marshal Gerald Shantz intimated that perhaps a potential fine could be overlooked if Miller were to bring his firefighting experience gained with the Emmaus Fire Department and join the Lower Milford crew.

Miller has jokingly said many times that it would have been cheaper to have paid the fine, although he admits he likely would have eventually found his way to the fire station to sign up anyway. 

Asked if he ever would have imagined being with the organization 50 years and counting, Miller responded, “Not hardly.” 

“I didn’t think I would have seen all that,’’ he also said, recalling some painful memories of lost lives and property that he tried to help save. “Yet, knowing what I’ve seen, I’d do it again.”

Although Lower Milford is a rural community generally spared from making headlines, there are still the occasional serious fires and motor vehicle accidents that all emergency responders face. He cites the February 1973 natural gas explosion in nearby Coopersburg that killed five people—including children—and injured more than a dozen as the most tormenting.

Still, he continued volunteering, reasoning that the satisfaction of assisting many outweighed the tragedy of the losses. The desire to help others has driven him to serve, he said. 

Miller today is a fire policeman, only occasionally driving a pumper to a fire. He also serves as forestry warden and will retire as fire marshal on Jan. 4. Throughout his tenure, he has held titles including deputy chief and ambulance lieutenant, and he is a former state-certified fire instructor. On the business side, he has been president of the Lower Milford Township Fire Department and today serves as recording secretary. 

Although he has given a lot, he said there have been many rewards.

“Knowing what we have accomplished,” he responded when asked what makes him proud in looking back at it all. “Knowing it’s still there because we saved it or we saved a person’s life has meant a lot. I think back to the times when someone has walked up to me and—years later—shook my hand to say thanks for helping to save their home, and it was all worth it.”

Photos by Tad Miller