When Donald Wood, known as Woody, is laid to rest on Saturday, his hearse will, fittingly be a Mattapoisett fire truck.

The former fire chief with “leather lungs” who understood fires better than anyone else in the department, passed away on May 22 at the age of 91 after more than 60 years of service. A father of four daughters and grandfather of nine, he was pre-deceased by Marjorie, his wife of 66 years.

A Mattapoisett native, Wood grew up at the firehouse where his dad was the chief. He was there when the current fire station was built and when the department purchased the now antique 1949 fire truck. He served in World War II and as a firefighter for the federal government at Camp Edwards, Fort Devens and Wellfleet before eventually returning to Mattapoisett where he moved up the ranks until becoming chief.

“He was unbelievable at putting a fire out,” said Capt. David Scott.

The men of the Mattapoisett Fire Department remember Wood as an “old school” firefighter.

In his day, firefighters went into the flames without protective face gear. Even when they eventually got them, the masks were often left them in the truck.

Current fire chief, Andy Murray, remembers battling a third-floor house fire years ago and “old leather lungs” entered the building without any breathing apparatus.

“It was after midnight, pitch black, no visibility,” said Murray. “I see a silhouette of someone standing the doorway. I realized it was Woody, so I thought it was OK to take my regulator off. It was like two hundred degrees. I’ve never breathed anything that hot in my life, [but] that was how it was done.”

Firefighting was in Wood’s blood and perhaps some soot in his lungs, so he was rarely away from the station, even after he technically retired in 1993.

“He was very mellow, most of the time,” said Deputy Chief Walter Morgado, a 53-year veteran of the Mattapoisett Fire Department who served under Wood. “He had a good rapport with all of the guys.”

As a kid of 9 or 10, Lt. Justin Dubois often hung around the fire station, and Wood showed him the ropes.

“He would take me to house fires. He would show me around, outside of course,” said Dubois.

The two remained close as Dubois grew up and joined the department, and he and the chief remember Wood’s nostalgia for the old days of fire fighting.

“He always used to talk about how we don’t know about brush fires,” said Dubois.

Chief Murray remembered a popular refrain of Wood’s: “We went to a brush fire in Miles Standish that burned for three weeks. You guys go out for three hours and you’re tired.”

A constant fixture at the fire department, Wood had a pager and showed up for every call he could.

“When the sun was up, he came,” said Murray.

As a dispatcher, Wood sometimes gave young firefighters who were unfamiliar with the territory a run for their money as he directing them using long gone landmarks such as “Take a right at the old wooden pump,” or “Go by the old sawmill that burned down in ‘54.”

Once, at 81, he even showed up in a truck after repeated efforts to get reinforcements at a brush fire failed.

“I figured I’d at least bring you water,” said Wood.

“We had to tell him he couldn’t drive the fire trucks any more. We assumed he knew because he hadn’t driven one in about fifteen years,” said Murray, laughing.

After Wood moved to Sippican Healthcare in Marion, his interest in the department remained strong. When the department bought Engine 1, he made one of his daughters take him to the station to get a look. He came to cookouts at the station, went to Ying Dynasty with the firefighters and often received them as visitors.

“When we would visit him at Sippican, he’d always have the scanners going, wearing a Fire Department T-shirt,” said Dubois.

That’s how Wood will be remembered–a fearless firefighter, a dedicated leader, perhaps a questionable navigator, who lived and breathed flames and fire trucks and who was always ready for the next call.

Wood leaves quite a legacy, but as Murray wrote in an announcement about Wood’s passing, “We’ll take it from here, chief.”

Wood's funeral service will be Saturday, May 28 at 10 a.m. in the Saunders-Dwyer Mattapoisett Home For Funerals, 50 County Rd. (Route 6) Mattapoisett. Burial will follow in Cushing Cemetery. Visiting hours are Friday from 4 to 8 p.m. In lieu of flowers, donations in his memory may be made to the Mattapoisett Firefighters Association.