ENOLA, Ark. – It’s the end of an era for one Faulkner County Volunteer Fire Department as the chief clocks his final hours on the job.

James Chance started at the Enola Volunteer Fire Department at just 18 years old, building it from the ground up.

“It was a lot of hard work. A lot of people, I mean we had men and their wives and everybody else up here. It was a community thing,” Chance said.

Prior to this, Enola had never had a fire department or people to staff it.

Chance and seven others made that change.

“We had one truck, a brush truck, but I mean that beat nothing,” Chance said.

At 78 years old, Chance has clocked 50 years with the department. Every call, he was there with boots on the ground.

“You would hear him fumbling around and the door shutting and the first trucks going off all hours of the night,” Chance’s daughter Tina Brock said.

His family said the late nights and early mornings never seemed to bother Chance, because he was doing what he loved.

“I remember the first structure fire we went on. We got there and there was smoke in the attic. We had to climb up on the roof and drop a hole in the attic and spray water in it, but we saved the house,” Chance said.

A lot has changed since Chance first put on the uniform, but the job itself remains the same.

“I guess it’s just the way I am, I’m used to it, and I like it,” Chance said.

First responders put their lives on the line every day, asking for nothing in return. Brock said that’s something to be proud of.

“People say as a child, they talk about heroes, my dad’s my hero,” Brock said.

A change of command ceremony will be held Wednesday at 7 p.m. at the fire department. All are welcome to attend.

Chance says he isn’t retiring just yet, just stepping down as chief.