WHEN SANTA reports for duty in Elkridge, he expects grueling hours.

Two weeks before Christmas, he and his wife visit every Elkridge neighborhood and give every child they see a candy cane and holiday greetings.

Mr. and Mrs. Claus rely on transportation provided by the Elkridge Volunteer Fire Department.

For several years, volunteers have pulled out their latest rescue squad car -- sirens blaring, lights flashing, air horn blasting -- and driven Santa through the neighborhood.

Robert Lisle, deputy chief of the Fire Department, coordinates the "Santa Detail."

He planned the route and ordered about 3,000 candy canes.

When Lisle drives the squad car, he sounds the rhythm of "Jingle Bells" on the car's air horn.

He planned stops in Aladdin Village, Capital Mobile Homes, the Elkridge Trailer Park and Dorsey Friday.

On Saturday, the Clauses started at the Super Fresh at Elkridge Corners at 9 a.m.

They traveled through the community hanging onto the truck, waving and shouting, "Ho, ho, ho!"

In the evening, they attended a Christmas party at the Harwood Park Methodist Church.

Yesterday, the Clauses had a pancake breakfast at the fire hall and visited other neighborhoods until evening.

For several years, Gene Poligardo -- a board member at the Fire Department -- has played Santa.

Debbie Peddicord has accompanied him as Mrs. Claus.

Robert Fadrowski and John Zimmer have served as alternate Santas.

Last year, Poligardo's wife, Bonnie, says she woke up and heard a strange noise.

Her husband was saying, "Ho, ho, ho" and waving his arm in his sleep.

The department usually assigns two vehicles to Santa -- a squad car and a utility car. Santa climbs into the utility vehicle if the squad car is called to an emergency.

Occasionally, Santa has responded to an emergency himself.

Several years ago, Fadrowski, dressed as Santa, was riding on ** the back of the rescue squad car when an accident was reported on Interstate 95.

After arriving at the scene, Fadrowski stepped off the back of the vehicle, grabbed the cutting tool -- or "jaws of life," the first in the county -- and freed a woman trapped in a car.

Fadrowski says the woman was surprised to see Santa rescuing her. Fadrowski told her: "Santa performs all kinds of miracles."

Another time, Fadrowski says, he was riding on the back of the engine in his Santa regalia when a call came in reporting a fire.

The two other crew members dropped him off at the fire hydrant and asked him to lay out the hose.

Neighborhood children gathered to watch in awe as Santa worked. "You've got to be really careful not to get the beard stuck in the hose," Fadrowski says.

The Elkridge Volunteer Fire Department has always attracted loyal and committed volunteers.

Lisle began volunteering at age 15, when his neighbor, Fire Department volunteer Ricky Godfrey, got him involved.

Fadrowski, 35, started going to the firehouse at age 7 to hang out with his big brother, Marty, who volunteered there.

Eighteen years ago, as soon as Fadrowski was of age, he became a volunteer firefighter.

Now 75 volunteers are on the rolls, 30 of them active, and 15 employees staff Chief Joe Slavotinek's Fire Department.

The department dates from 1942, when a handful of men organized to protect their homes and property.

The group wanted to be prepared if Elkridge became the target for enemy bombers during World War II.

They built the town's first fire engine from parts scavenged from secondhand dealers and junkyards.

They assembled a 1934 Brockway truck with a 300-gallon water tank, a bell and a red warning light and siren.

Then they covered the engine with a coat of white paint and named it "Daisy."

On July 13, 1943, Daisy was recognized as the first piece of equipment built by hand under the auspices of the Civil Defense.

Gov. Theodore R. McKeldin took a ride in Daisy, and actors portrayed Elkridge residents in a program, "Not for Glory," which aired nationwide on NBC radio.

Honoring our own

In a book also titled "Not for Glory," written by Melissa Lauber and published to honor the department's 50th anniversary, Bill Merson Jr., honorary life member of the Elkridge Volunteer Fire Department, described his "most memorable call."

It was his first fire -- a house fire on Old Washington Road a couple of days after Christmas.

It was the only call he ever went on with his father, Bill Merson Sr., who died the next month.

Bill Merson Sr. and his five brothers, Sam, Jack, Don, Tom and Oliver, served as volunteer firefighters.

Don Merson was the first paid staff member of the Fire Department.

At Bill Merson Sr.'s funeral, the firehouse was draped in black and the engine was part of his procession.

People lined Old Washington Boulevard, and the siren sounded as his coffin passed by.

In Lauber's book, Bill Merson Sr.'s wife, Doris, is quoted as saying, "There's just no words for the way that made me feel."

Jack and Sam Merson still live in Elkridge.

On Tuesday, they came to Grace Episcopal Church in Elkridge to honor the memory of Charles Edward Toomey Jr., who died Dec. 5 after a short illness.

Toomey was a partner, stockholder and past president of J. H. Toomey & Sons Inc., an Elkridge hardware and lumber business established in 1896 by his father and grandfather.

Toomey worked at his desk in the lumber store at 5871 Washington Blvd. until the day before Thanksgiving. The Toomeys had built the store in 1950.

Lumber, coal, hardware and hay were sold at the original store at Main Street and Railroad Avenue.

In 1934, Toomey expanded the business by offering fuel oil delivery for home heating as an alternative to coal.

He was a charter member of the Elkridge Rotary and served on the committee that drew up the constitution and bylaws for the Elkridge Volunteer Fire Department.

His son, Bill Toomey, remembers him driving all night to Pennsylvania to pick up parts for Daisy.

The Mersons remember when Charles Toomey was referee for basketball games in the 1930s in the gymnasium of the old Elkridge High School, across from the former elementary school on Old Washington Boulevard.

Sam Merson recounts that at one time, his brother Bill, Bill Rich and Ed Rehbein all worked for Toomey.

When they answered a call as volunteers for the Fire Department, Toomey paid them for their time.

Two months ago, Toomey was honored by the Elkridge Rotary for his 50 years of service.

Bill Toomey, president of the Elk Ridge Heritage Society Ltd., had planned to tell a story about his father for the society's open house Dec. 6.

When he was a child, his father and older brother set up a Lionel train garden every year at Christmas.

When he was 6 or 7, Bill Toomey wanted his own train set.

That Christmas, his family traveled to visit his mother's parents on the Eastern Shore -- a long journey.

He was sure that Santa would not find him so far from home.

But the next morning beneath the tree was his very own American Flyer -- one he still owns.

It was those "private little things," Bill Toomey said, that conveyed his father's sense of caring to his sons.

A greeting

Here's to the holidays and to the sharing that continues from generation to generation.

Wishing you and yours special memories in this season of Hanukkah, Christmas and Kwanzaa.

Pub Date: 12/14/98