Frank Seidl Jr. served the City of Trenton Fire Department for 30 years, retiring as a battalion chief.
TRENTON -- Frank Seidl Jr. was a roofer in his early 20s when his father - a city firefighter - urged him to follow in his footsteps.
Seidl Jr. took the fire test and eventually joined the Trenton Fire Department, in September 1986.
Sadly, his father had passed away unexpectedly of natural causes before they could serve together.
On Tuesday evening, just minutes after the battalion chief's final shift in a 30-year career, Seidl talked about those conversations with his father.
"It was the best advice I ever got," Seidl said of his father's salesmanship for the job.
"And becoming a firefighter is the best thing I've ever done," he said, as his fellow firefighters at headquarters prepared a prime rib dinner celebration.
Battalion Chief Frank Seidl Jr. directs firefighters at a house fire on Beatty Street in June 2015. (Kevin Shea | NJ Advance Media) With his extended family dining with him, his children reminisced about sometimes eating with their father at the firehouse when they were younger.
Seidl said being a city firefighter is living the "second family" cliche.
He said he joined the department just weeks after the August 1986 line-of-duty deaths of city firefighters Joseph F. Woods Jr. Robert Mizopalko.
So new, he soon realized the strength of firefighters' bonds and what the deaths of Woods and Mizopalko did to the department.
"It is family," he said. "Anything you need, anything, you just ask these guys."
Seidl is looking forward to more free time with his family, and his toddler granddaughter Rylan got him started Tuesday night, leading him all over the firehouse.
Rylan sat with Seidl as the department's dispatcher broadcast his final shift as per tradition to all city fire stations.
It listed all his assignments - Ladder 4 in 1986, then Engine 10, Ladder 1 in 1995 as a captain and then battalion chief in 2011 - and his commendations.
"30 years in less than three minutes," he said with a laugh.
On Wednesday, on Facebook, Seidl wrote: "Thank you to all whom I've had the pleasure to serve with. Thank you to my family for standing by me even though I missed out on so many holidays due to work."
"Thanks to the people of the City of Trenton for allowing me to serve you and providing for me and my family."
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