Warm Sendoff For Retiring Winchendon Deputy Fire Chief Ricci Ruschioni

WINCHENDON (CBS) - The ride home to Beech Street after his final shift was certainly appropriate.

Winchendon Deputy Fire Chief Ricci Ruschioni was delivered home by a Winchendon fire engine.

"This is the greatest job on earth," he told us.

And when he climbed out, a slice of "the brotherhood" lined his front walk – awaiting his last salute.

"We have covered each other's backs in some of the darkest hours," he said as he surveyed his comrades.

After 39 years at the Winchendon Fire Department, Ruschioni retired Tuesday, soaked in memories of seven alarm factory fires – and firehouse shenanigans.

"He's a character," says Winchendon Fire Chief Tom Smith. "There's no way around it."

That's an assertion to which Ruschioni pleads guilty.

"What I'll miss the most is the firehouse antics," he chirps.

But Tuesday's sendoff was more about heartfelt hugs, as Ruschioni called it quits in the town he has always called home – where he started as a firefighter at age 19 – a dozen years before Winchendon even had 911 service.

As a rookie he'd often be alone in the fire station, answering the phone himself, quickly contacting the other firefighters, and then driving the fire engine to the scene of the blaze to meet them.

His three children pretty much grew up at the firehouse.

"That is a hero," says daughter Randi Arsenault. "He put his life out on the line for everyone else before himself."

"There's a time that comes when you have to look in the mirror and you have to say 'It's time,'" laments her Dad.

Indeed, he would have stayed on for an even four decades, but felt his leukemia diagnosis might compromise his ability to protect and serve – something he just couldn't risk.

He hopes the townspeople understand.

"All I want," says the 58 year old, "is for them to say they respect me."

And they do – just like his comrades at the firehouse – where his 14,250 days on the job have made him the "go to" guy for almost everything.

"It's going to be impossible to replace him," says Chief Smith.  "I wouldn't even try."

"These guys make me who I am," says the reluctant retiree proudly nods to his co-workers.

No surprise, the firebox affixed to his house will stay – even as he spends a lot more time answering the call of his Harley.

Ruschioni is the president of the "Fire and Iron" motorcycle club – which boasts 2000 members nationwide – mostly firefighters.