'Whitey' Williams taught scores of firefighters how to perform task safely

In an interview given in 2014 after fighting a fire, Williams spoke of the fire but refused to be quoted or to have a story written about him.

“Write about the firefighters,” he would repeat with a smile, always with an unfiltered Pall Mall cigarette dangling from his mouth.

Williams started as a volunteer with New Kensington No. 4 and within a few years became one of the city’s paid firefighters in 1969. He was an assistant chief and union president of the paid firefighters.

Williams was a driving force behind the establishment of the heavy equipment rescue team that replaced pry bars and saws with early “jaws of life” power tools just like the trend-setting Eureka Hose Company had in Tarentum. He also joined the scuba diving team.

He had logged 23 years with New Kensington as a paid firefighter and dispatcher when he retired in 1992. He then trained to become a state fire suppression instructor and joined New Kensington station No. 1 as a volunteer.

“He loved to go inside the structure to attack a fire and watch younger firefighters,” Pam Williams said.

Saliba and former Arnold police Chief Willie Weber, who was also a fire chief, agreed that there was “a feel of ease” when Whitey Williams was working a fire.

Weber remembers a fire on Victoria Avenue involving three houses.

“The house with brick was burning like a Roman candle. Whitey and (another firefighter) went inside the next one to make sure no one was there. They were on a staircase when a wall collapsed from the brick house. They were almost hit by bricks” and the men had to help each other out of there, Weber said.

Williams was a “terrific fire suppression instructor,” New Kensington firefighter Dan Felack Sr. said.

“I fought many fires with Whitey over the years,” he said. “And if he had told me that we could have extinguished Hell, I would have been right there with him because I had that much trust and faith in his ability and knowledge.”

“We may never know just how many lives he saved because of his teaching and example,” Saliba said.

Saliba said Williams was twice cited for bravery but deserved the honor many other times.

In 1996, Williams was inside a burning East Ken Manor apartment looking for people inside when he was hit by a flash-over.

“Whitey was badly burned. He refused to leave until the people were found,” Saliba said. “Two brothers were found in a closet dead. Their mother was terribly burned and she died about 10 days later.”

Weber recalled Williams’ unusual training techniques.

“He introduced them to smoke and flames from the inside,” Weber said. “He would set up a card table and four chairs in a basement of a house (that would later be intentionally set on fire for the practice of putting it out).

“We’d sit down in our gear, tanks and masks and he dealt cards. We started to play poker. Whitey started a fire in a barrel in the room and he told us what to expect and to remember our training.”

On the second hand, the firefighters responding to the mounting smoke got down on their knees. They continued to play.

“Finally, we were on the floor laying on our sides in a smoky environment. It was definitely getting hot. We continued to play cards. Then Whitey said, ‘Hey you — grab that inch-and-a half hose and put that fire out.’

“Lesson done.”

Williams last fought a fire from inside a burning house in 2014 — the same year he had a quadruple bypass surgery, Pam Williams said. This year he suffered a stroke.

Viewing will be from 2 to 8 p.m. Sunday, June 2 at Ross G. Walker Funeral Home, 217 Freeport Road, New Kensington. A firefighters memorial service will be at 5 p.m. Sunday in the funeral home. The funeral service will be in the funeral home Monday at 10 a.m. by The Rev. Harold M. Mele Jr.

Entombment will be in Greenwood Memorial Park, Lower Burrell.