Long time Scarborough resident and fireman Frank Melcher passed away on Jan. 10 at a Portland hospital.

Melcher, 90, was a member of the Scarborough Fire Department for 70 years, starting when he was just 15. His family said he was instrumental in helping to incorporate the Scarborough Fire Department in 1948.

“The fire department, that was his big thing,” said Melcher’s son Roland. “I think it was helping people and the community. If someone needed help, he’d go help.”

Before the fire department was incorporated, there was just a loose group of smaller fire stations located near the population centers in town. Melcher was active at the Oak Hill station and held just about every position available with the department.

“It’s unparallel, his service to the town,” said Rob Carson, Scarborough’s fire chief for 20 years, who is still active in the department.

Melcher played a hand in helping secure the land for the Oak Hill fire station and he also assisted with starting the town’s rescue department. He was a member of Engine 7 and drove for years until he felt he could not do it any longer.

“Frank was always there, a call for Oak Hill and he was there,” Carson said.

After he decided to stop working with the fire department, Melcher helped form the Fire Police, a group of volunteers who assist at emergency scenes by directing traffic. Melcher headed the Fire Police until he retired a little more than a year ago. But even in his retirement, he still kept an emergency radio nearby in case he could help.

“He was always a busy person, an active person,” said his daughter Nancy Wheeler. “He loved the fire department.”

Deputy Chief Glen Deering noted how reliable Melcher was when he worked with the department. “It didn’t matter what kind of weather, the guy was there,” he said. “He was dedicated, you could always count on him being there. He was the type of guy that wanted to help everybody.”

Carson said people could count on Melcher and whenever anyone needed any help, they could call and he would be right there to lend a hand, but he rarely wanted any credit for his work. “Frank never used the word I, he used the word we, and most of the time, we was I,” Carson said.

Melcher simply liked to help people. That was one reason why he was active in the fire department for so many years. But he also found other ways to help people and each spring he would go around town to pump out people’s basements.

He also enjoyed doing mechanical work, and routinely worked on machines ranging from fire trucks to friends’ lawnmowers and snow blowers. Wheeler fondly remembers people gathering at Melcher’s Libby Street home to get things fixed and then socializing with Melcher and who ever else was there at the time.

Melcher was born in Portland and retired from the Portland Gas and Fore Co. He also worked at the South Portland shipyard during the war building ships and eventually enlisted in the Marine Corps.

He was a member of the Masons and the VFW.

Funeral services for Melcher will be held on Jan. 14 at 11:30 a.m. at the Hobbs Funeral Home in South Portland.