Dickey Lamb: Fire in his blood

Richard “Dickey” Lamb gave college a try but found his real calling was with the fire department.

Born and raised in Wilmington, Lamb attended elementary school at Christ Our King and high school at Salesianum, where he excelled in baseball and football.

He then attended University of Delaware to play freshman football, but mostly warmed the bench. After two years of giving it the old college try, he said he knew it wasn’t for him.

“I told everyone I was taking aeronautical engineering, and when they said ‘What?’ I said, ‘Yeah I’m taking up space,’” he chuckled.

Staying in Wilmington, Lamb said he was still tight with friends he had made at Sallies and Brandywine High School who had joined Talleyville Fire Co. on Route 202, and they convinced him to join.

“I was kind of hesitant at first, but once I was in, I was hooked,” he said. 

Joining the fire department in his early 20s kept him out of trouble. “It just kept you on the straight and narrow,” he said. 

Firefighters starting out had to first learn about their trucks and equipment, and they needed approval from the captain before getting to ride out on calls.

Once approved, however, Lamb responded to everything – house fires, building fires, serious car accidents and ambulance runs. “The whole gamut,” he said. “It was a tough job.”

He responded to six fatal fires in his first year – one where two young boys were saved, although their parents perished.

But Lamb stuck with it.

Two years later, he went to the City of Wilmington Fire Department, where he worked full time. “That was crazy there,” he said.

He stayed there 35 years, and retired as a captain.

“I loved it,” he said. “I wish I could still do it, but the job beats you up.”

Lamb was promoted to captain of the rescue company, which responds to every special call in the city. That included every working fire and any kind of rescue.

Saving lives was the name of the game, and Lamb is thankful to have been part of that effort.

“People are here because of what we did,” he said, giving credit to the team he worked with, all dedicated to helping people at their greatest time of need.

He remembers one little girl who was trapped on the second floor of a burning home.

“We passed her out of a second-floor window, and they worked on her and transported, and she’s alive today,” he said. “That was a good save.”

In the early ‘80s, Lamb and some of his buddies started picking up extra work painting houses in the area. They eventually started their own business, with more than 100 fellow firefighters working with them.

“We worked a crazy schedule at the fire station, 24 hours on and 72 off,” Lamb said, but it gave them plenty of opportunity to do painting jobs in their spare time.

“We were in the phone book back then, remember that?” he said, again with a chuckle.

After retiring from the Wilmington Fire Department in 2019, Lamb, now 70, came downstate to the Rehoboth Beach area and started a custom painting business here.

“I just thought it was a good place to be. We had vacationed here for years,” he said.

And he’s still involved in the fire service, volunteering with Rehoboth Beach Volunteer Fire Company when he’s not working or spending time with his wife Dawn, his yellow lab Gigi or the grandkids.

At the fire station, he still drives a truck and serves as the safety officer.

“I’ll do this as long as I can,” he said. “I still have it in my heart, something I always will.”