By Ed Karvoski Jr., Contributing Writer
Southborough – This is the first time in about 70 years that the Southborough Fire Department doesn’t include a Hubley family member. George “Skip” Hubley Jr. recently retired after serving a total of 43 years with the department including 15 as a call firefighter and then 29 as call fire lieutenant.
Hubley’s informal training began as a preteen from his father George Sr., who started as a call firefighter in the mid-1940s after serving in World War II, and retired as a call fire lieutenant in 1986.
“I went with my father to a lot of the calls in Southborough – except if I was in school or if it was a school night,” he said. “I was kind of a big, rugged kid and I always helped out by doing chores that some of the older guys asked me to do. I basically learned all the tricks of the trades as I grew up.”
The family tradition continued in the department. Hubley’s younger brother Joseph retired a few weeks earlier than him after 37 years, first as a call firefighter and then full-time for 29. Their late brother John, who passed away in 2008, was with the department for about 20 years, first as a call fighter and then as a full-time clerk and dispatcher. Hubley’s son Matthew joined the department in 2006 then left when he married and moved out of town in 2012.
The Hubley family feels privileged to have a longtime association with the fire department, he noted.
“It’s a great honor,” he said. “It wasn’t planned; it just happened that way. It was something that I always wanted to do.”
Soon after Hubley turned age 18 in 1971, he became a call firefighter during the summer before entering his senior year at Algonquin Regional High School (ARHS). Some of his classmates from Northborough were call firefighters with their town’s fire department.
“I never missed any school,” he noted.
Eleven months after Hubley started, the fatal fire at the Hotel Vendome in Boston occurred.
“Nine firefighters lost their lives in that fire,” he recalled. “It made a big impact on all fire departments. For me being new at the time, it was kind of a wake-up call, telling us that’s what can happen in this type of job.”
After graduating from ARHS in 1972, he continued as a call firefighter and began working full-time at the Massachusetts Bureau of Forestry. He currently works there full-time as a forest health supervisor.
“The call firefighting didn’t conflict with my full-time job, so it worked out fine,” he said.
Hubley has firsthand memories of what became known as the Second Great Chelsea Fire in 1973. He was among the Southborough firefighters who assisted with two engines and a ladder truck. The fire burned 18 city blocks. It started 200 yards from the origin of the Great Chelsea Fire of 1908.
When his father retired as the call lieutenant in 1986, Hubley was appointed to that position.
In 43 years, Hubley served with five fire chiefs: Ed Brock, Frank Aspinwall, Peter Phaneuf, John Mauro, and his brother Joseph Mauro.
“Firefighting is really a young person’s job because it’s so physically demanding,” he said. “I was the new kid on the block when I first started and I got to work with a lot of the old-timers who passed their experience to me. Hopefully, I’ve passed down my experience to some of the younger people.”
Photos/Submitted