Chief Niemeyer is Honored for 50 Years of Service

All stripes of St. Louis-area fire fighters came to the Brentwood firehouse Sunday afternoon to pay respect to Brentwood's retiring chief, Bob Niemeyer. Including family and friends, about 200 came to the event.

Brentwood Mayor Pat Kelly served as master of ceremonies, as chiefs, retired chiefs, both of his sons, a brother, and other Brentwood citizens took turns at the podium.

See more photos of the day at Maplewood-Brentwood Patch Facebook.

Maplewood's retired chief, Charlie Granda and current chief Terry Merrell were among the first.

"He was my mentor," Granda said. "He had my back for 30 years."

Granda said Niemeyer was the firefighter to have on your side when things got tough.

"He'd say, 'Charlie, is it a duck, or is it the real thing?'" Granda said.

"If it was the real thing, he's going to speed it up," he said. "After a few minutes, you'd look down the street, and you'd see him walking up with that old white coat and turned up boots, and you knew it was him – Butch Cassidy coming."

Granda said the first thing out of Niemeyer's mouth was always, "Where do you want me inside?"

Others spoke of Niemeyer's leadership by example. He always wanted to go inside fires, as opposed to fighting it outside with a hose.

His son, David, who is a Brentwood firefighter, said if his own children were in a house fire, he'd want his dad, even at his age, to be the one going in to get them.

His other son, Mark, listed lessons he hoped younger firefighters would learn from his dad:

• Love of the job
• Love of going interior - fighting a fire inside
• Love for his men - loyalty
• Give second chances
• Have humility and gratitude
• Niemeyer's faith in Jesus, which always brought him home

When Brentwood's youngest firefighter, Jake Erschen, gave Niemeyer a plaque with images of every Brentwood firefighter, Niemeyer said, simply, "All my men. Thank you."

Brentwood Fire Chief Bob Niemeyer is being .