Reading Fire Chief Russell P. Mogel inspired young firefighters to live their dreams as he did, protecting the Reading community day after day.
Firefighting is a calling. Firefighters say it gets in your blood, some by birth and others by circumstances.
Russell’s father, Paul H., was a Reading firefighter, and so were his brothers, Roger and Richard, and son, Gary, who retired in July.
The three generations of firefighters have nearly 130 years of experience putting out the flames to keep the people of the city of Reading safe.
“My dad said you do everything you can to try and find the cause,” Gary, 55, said of his father, who passed away on Oct. 3, 2020, at age 98. “When you sign up for the job, it’s not a desk job. You put yourself at risk. My father took firefighting very seriously. When I retired in July it was the end of an era.”
Russell married Evelyn, his second wife, on May 23, 1959. The couple raised seven children.
Paul was a driver for 45 years at Riverside Fire Company in Reading.
Russell started as a volunteer at Riverside, retiring after a dozen years as Reading chief in 1983.
“I don’t know what it is about firefighters,” Russell Mogel said during an interview with the Reading Eagle in 2011. “They say it’s just born in you. Whatever it takes to get me out of bed at 3 in the morning and go out into a storm to help someone who can no longer help themselves, that’s what it takes.”
Gary said his father went to the International Association of Fire Fighters meetings and brought back new ideas to Reading.
Russell started the trend to use lime-green and yellow fire apparatus as a safety precaution.
He designed the city’s first “super pumper,” with a 1,750-gallon-per-minute pump to protect Carpenter Technology and other businesses. He also designed the first Reading airport rescue and firefighting truck.
He implemented a digital alarm system to replace big red fire boxes on the streets of Reading.
Russell, the first paid fire chief in Reading, was inspirational to young firefighters, including former chiefs Richard I. Boyer and William H. Rehr III.
“My memories start in 1960,” Richard recalled of his friend and mentor. “I hung around with the chief and ran fires with him. He was an inspiration and educator. Russ was part of my wedding. We all loved the chief. He was very analytical.”
William said that the two led similar lives, noting they both worked at Carpenter Steel and as firefighters.
“He was very affable and was super encouraging,” William said.
William recalled that Russell’s first massive fire as chief was in 1971, when Penn Hardware, a six-story vacant warehouse along the Schuylkill River, caught fire. The cause of the fire was not determined.
William said that Russell appointed him as a deputy chief, and William later appointed Gary as a deputy chief.
Reading Fire Chief William I. Stoudt Jr. said that he was a youngster when Russell retired, but his legacy remained strong.
“He had a vision for change,” the chief recalled.
When Russell retired, he continued to work at a fire extinguisher business.
He enjoyed trips to Las Vegas and fly fishing on the Snake River in Jackson, Wyo.
“We went fly fishing on the Snake River, and it was so windy,” Gary recalled. “He was fly fishing in the wind. It was so awesome that he got to have the career that he wanted and then watch me have the same career.”
As Gary begins life as a retired firefighter, he is thankful to his father for giving the courage to put his life on the line to save others.
Early in Gary’s career, he was in a near-death experience at the January 1985 YMCA fire that claimed the lives of three YMCA residents and a firefighter.
When Gary was laying a hose on the floor, He ran into complications and left the building. The water hydrant was frozen.
Gary said that every day on the job he carried with him his father’s advice
“He would always say, ‘You have to weigh the risk and the benefit,’” Gary said.
Contact Holly Herman: hherman@readingeagle.com.
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