Westborough Firefighter Dave Farrar Retires

Westborough firefighter Dave Farrar was fascinated with fires from an early age. Many times, he would race to the scene of a fire with his dad, David Sr., a Westborough call firefighter for 30 years.

“The alarm would scream off in the middle of the night. Off we would go. I would ride to the scene of the fire with my dad and stand by and watch. It was pretty exciting,” he said.

Farrar has retired after 34 years of dedicated service with the . During that time, he wore many hats, serving as firefighter, EMT, fire investigator, inspector, educator, and record-keeper. His brother Kevin, who joined in 1981, is still at the department.

Dave’s first-hand experience watching his dad fighting fires drew him to the profession. “My father was very aggressive. He would always be the guy that climbed the ladder and I was amazed that he would take that lead,” he said.

It wasn’t just his dad who inspired him. “My grandfather [Chester] was on the fire department in Hopkinton. His brother [Clarence] was also. We go back pretty far,” he said.

In fact, Clarence started Farrar Fire Apparatus in the 1930s, a company that built custom-designed fire trucks for fire departments all along the east coast. Westborough Fire Department owned two Farrar fire trucks.

As a kid, Dave couldn’t wait to become a firefighter. At 15, he joined Explorer Post 85 Emergency Service Squad, the youth auxiliary to the .  When Dave turned 20, he joined the Westborough Fire Department as a call firefighter, then a night fireman.

“I actually moved in to the fire station,” Dave said, “It became my home. I went to school at Quinsigamond during the day and was available to go on calls at night.”

Over the years, Dave has assisted in many Westborough fires, including the infamous fire, and the commercial building fire on the corner of Route 135 and Main Street.

“The whole building had collapsed on itself, Dave remembered. “We had to bring in special equipment to dig through the rubble to find the point of origin of the fire. It took two or three days and we had multiple towns come in and assist.” Dave was the town’s fire investigator at the time.

Another memorable fire occurred at . “We could see the fire burning, and we were hitting it with water, but we just couldn’t put the fire out. I remember the fire was rolling across the ceiling. It was kind of scary because there was a lot of heat, a lot of fire, and it kept rolling over our heads,” he said.

There are happy memories too. Dave helped deliver two babies during his tenure, one of them the daughter of fellow Westborough firefighter . “It was great to know that we were part of bringing her into the world,” he recalled.

In February, 2002 Dave fought a different kind of threat – leukemia. He took medical leave for five months while he underwent intensive treatment. “It was an illness that zapped me of my strength,” he said. “It took me almost a year to get back to where I was.”

Dave has left his post, but not his passion. Over the past 34 years, he’s forged a strong bond with his fellow firefighters.

“We’re close. We worked and lived together for 24 hours at a time. We support each other. We’re family. That’s what’s it’s all about,” he said.

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