The afternoon of Monday, January 4, 1960, a fire broke out at 3:30 pm in the McCarty Hat Shop in the 100 block of East Third Street in downtown Mt. Pleasant. Firemen who responded to the fire were (First Name Unknown) Barrett, Jack Blackburn, Charles Bradley, Fred Bright, Jr., Edward Clark, Tom B. Coker, Otis Falls, William "Bill" Gauntt, Hubert Hardy, Larry Herschberger, Sam W. "Pete" Irvin, Fritz Knechtel, Taft Nelson, James O. Pierce, Weldon Redfearn, Sam Roper, Robert Lee "Bob" Simpson, Ernest Swafford, and Howard Townsend.
Robert Lee "Bob" Simpson operated an American Petrofina service station at 204 South Jefferson Street, on the corner of South Jefferson and West Alabama Streets, where he was well known and liked by his customers, and was remembered for the sign he erected on his station that read "Howdy Folks! If You Can't Stop, Wave!" Mr. Simpson joined Mt. Pleasant Volunteer Department in 1948 and was a highly respected member of the department.
The fire quickly spread from McCarty's Dress Shop into an adjacent dry cleaners. Bystanders told firemen that someone might be trapped inside the cleaners. Tom B. Coker and Bob Simpson entered the building to search for victims, but were quickly overcome by noxious smoke containing toxic chemicals. Both men went down, but were able to escape the burning building.
Each firefighter who responded to fight the fire received $2.00 for their services.
Bob Simpson remained a member of the Volunteer Fire Department, but his health quickly began to fail. The next fire that Simpson and Coker responded to was on January 18, 1960.
Later medical examinations revealed that spots had developed on Mr. Simpson's lungs. Bob Simpson resigned from the fire department on February 22, 1961. Weldon Redfearn made a motion, which was seconded by Hubert Hardy, to accept Mr. Simpson's resignation as previously submitted but to make him an honorary member of the Department. The motion carried.
Bob Simpson passed away at age 39 from complications of smoke inhalation on May 8, 1962 and is buried in Forest Lawn Memorial Park.
On May 17, 1962, the Department hung a portrait of Mr. Simpson in the new fire station at 402 N. Washington. They also petitioned the Texas Firemen's Retirement Board to provide a pension to Mrs. Simpson and her children, which was begun by June 7, 1962. At the time, volunteer firemen's pensions were very small and will not support a widow and her children (a full retirement pension was in the neighborhood of $25.00 per month in the 1970s).
In their February 21, 1963 regular meeting, the Fire Department voted to present an honorary membership card to Bobby Simpson.
Through the years, several Mt. Pleasant Firefighters have been seriously injured while fighting fires. To our knowledge, however, Mr. Simpson is the only Mt. Pleasant firefighter in the Department's history to receive fatal injuries in the line of duty. Although firefighting techniques and protective equipment have improved greatly since 1960, Bob Simpson's story illustrates the real dangers that each fireman faces every time they respond to a citizen's call for help.
While the city and county carry insurance to pay volunteer firemen's medical expenses if they are injured at a fire, it does not protect them or their families from financial loss that results from loss of income from their regular job if they are injured, permanently disabled, or killed in the line of duty.
