Sean C. Morgan
After 25 years of driving fire trucks and ambulances, Ken Weld is heading down some different roads – into the forest.
Weld, 43, a battalion chief for Sweet Home Fire and Ambulance District, retired on Dec. 30 after 24 years in the fire service with plans to drive a log truck for Stutzman Trucking.
“Kenny and I have been friends for a long time,” said Fire Chief Dave Barringer during a reception held on Dec. 30. “There’s been a lot of water under the bridge. It’s hard seeing him go. I’ve seen him do amazing things here and for the people in this community.”
Weld has done a great job as a firefighter and paramedic, Barringer said, and his expertise in maintenance has been invaluable to the district.
He and Weld started paramedic school together, Barringer noted, and Weld has been an excellent paramedic, who is good with patients, setting an example and mentoring younger medics, teaching them how to work with people and be safe doing it.
Weld graduated from Sweet Home High School in 1990. He went to work as a resident volunteer, which turned into a full-time position, at Albany Fire Department in October 1990.
He left Albany and came to Sweet Home as a volunteer in 1998 and driving for Pickett Trucking. He went full time at Sweet Home Fire and Ambulance in November 2001 as a paramedic and became battalion chief when Doug Emmert retired in November 2011.
Weld said he returned to Sweet Home looking for a change, he said. He had gotten remarried and wanted to raise his family in Sweet Home. He stayed with it “to serve the community that I grew up in, to give back to the community.”
He has driven log truck part time the past six years, the last two with Stutzman. Weld’s father, Al Weld, who owned Sweet Home Sanitation with his uncle, Sherman Weld, taught Ken Weld to drive truck.
Driving has been in his blood, Weld said, and “I really like driving truck. I’m too young to retire-retire.”
As he moves on, “I’m really going to miss my guys, everybody, but in particular my guys on my shift,” Weld said of the “A” shift, which includes Lt. Jared Huenergardt, paramedic-firefighter Mike Severns, part-time medics Jason Melkvik and Josh Starha and firefighter Christian Whitfield.
“I’m going to miss the camaraderie we had on our shift,” Weld said, adding that he has no complaints about his crew members. They do their jobs well.
He’ll also miss working with Barringer, he said. They’ve known each other for close to 30 years.
“He’s going to do really well,” Weld said of Barringer, who became chief in June. “He’s going to move the fire department forward. He’s already started doing that. He’s the right guy for everybody there at the fire department.
“I’m going to miss him a lot. He’s a good guy.”
Then again, Weld may be back in the department relatively soon anyway, following in the footsteps of his predecessor, Emmert, as a volunteer. Barringer has already suggested that.
Weld said he told him, “Give me six months, and then I’d come back in and talk to him.”
Weld is married to Angela, 43. They have four children: Kellie, 20; J.T., 18; Mikkala, 16; and Tucker, 11.
“I want to thank each and every one of you,” Weld said to firefighters, medics and members of the community at the reception last week. “Thank you very much for putting up with me.”