As Georgia's oldest active firefighter, one might think Nick LeoGrande of Mt. Airy is ready to hang up his fire boots.
But, despite LeoGrande's retirement ceremony given by the Habersham County Fire Department Saturday, the 82-year-old volunteer firefighter says he is not ready to quit just yet.
"There's no sense in giving it up now," LeoGrande says. "I'll stay until I can't do it anymore."
LeoGrande's daughter, Sandra Hoose, says her father began his career with Bridgewater Fire Company in Bridgewater, N.Y., in upstate New York, as a volunteer sometime around 1950 when she was just a little girl. He moved to Habersham County in 1991 and dutifully has volunteered at Habersham County Station 14 (Glade Creek) ever since it opened its doors in 1994.
"He really loves the fire department and everyone he works with," Hoose says. "He likes giving out teddy bears to children at car wrecks."
Yet LeoGrande realizes with age often come limitations.
"I'm getting to the age now where I don't do any heavy-duty work," LeoGrande says. "I go to the firehouse and open the doors, crank up the trucks
