Ex-fire chief Tape remembered as jokester, talented investigator
City firefighters pay tribute
The family of a former Windsor fire chief said a blaze breaking out during his funeral service on Wednesday could only be one last joke from the consummate trickster.
William Tape’s casket had been placed on the back of a fire truck used mostly for ceremonies. When the truck started, smoke started coming from the engine, causing a moment of panic.
“We couldn’t see the truck, we couldn’t see this, we couldn’t see that. Guys were looking for the fire extinguish- er, running around, it was just so funny. That was Bill all the way,” Tape’s wife Lee said.
“The truck was from LaSalle, but I know Bill, he would’ve said ‘I’m not going in a LaSalle truck, I’m going in a Windsor truck.’”
Windsor firefighters lined up on Goyeau Street outside Station 1 Wednesday to pay their respects to Tape, a former chief who served with the department for 34 years and was the only interim fire chief in the city’s history.
Tape died Saturday at the age of 79.
When he first started on the job more than 50 years ago, older firefighters saw his name and decided he wouldn’t be called Bill anymore. Instead he’d be “Sticky” — earning him the nickname Sticky Tape.
In 1993, then city administra- tor Hilary Payne asked Tape to step up as fire chief after the top three firefighters in the city decided to retire at the same time — even though Tape had already made plans to retire himself. He accepted the job, staying on for a few months until a long-term replacement was found.
“I have nothing but good things to say about Bill,” said Payne, now a city councillor in Ward 9. “He was a very competent firefighter who demonstrated he could do the job and had the confidence of the rest of the department, which is a very important thing.
“Bill was a good man,” he said.
During his career, he spent 19 years fighting fires. His most dramatic moments included going through a wall of flame during the Detroit riots in July, 1967 and narrowly avoiding a falling bell at Most Precious Blood church.
But he had a passion for fire prevention and arson investigation, spending 15 years investigating fires in the city.
As part of the job, he led school visits and spent a lot of time talking with kids about keeping themselves and their homes safe from fire.
“He’d always be asking kids, ‘Do you want to go in a fire truck? Let’s go. Come see. Make sure you stand here if any of the bells start going off,” Lee said. “He was very much about children.”