Hampton Bays firefighter Benjamin Lupia dies

Once at a state firefighters association meeting several years ago, Benjamin W. Lupia was introduced to another delegate - a firefighter for 60 years. Lupia jokingly referred to that delegate as a "probie," a rookie firefighter.

And from Lupia's perspective, he might have been.

Lupia, 96, an active fire department volunteer since 1937, died Monday after serving 73 years with the Hampton Bays Fire Company.

Arthur Brown, an ex-Hampton Bays fire chief, said, "When you talk about devotion to community . . . If there ever was a person whose passing we should not mourn but celebrate the life, it's Ben."

Lupia, chief of the Hampton Bays department from 1953 to 1955, was the first firefighter to serve in that department for more than 50 years and served with every chief since the department was founded in the early 1930s.

Lupia said he hoped to live long enough to see his grandson become the chief of the Hampton Bays fire department. "Thank goodness he made it," Brown said. His grandson, Stefan Borell, became chief of the department in January.

Lupia was a past president of the Southampton Town Fire Chiefs Association, a member of the Suffolk County Fire Chiefs Association, the 2002 Hampton Bays Fireman of the Year, a trustee of the Good Ground Cemetery of Hampton Bays, a member of the Hampton Bays Historical Society, and a member of St. Rosalie's Church in Hampton Bays.

Born in Riverhead, Lupia spent most of his life in Hampton Bays. Leaving school after the eighth grade to work to help support his family, he eventually settled on carpentry as a career, and worked many years for Dan Capone and Son Builders in Hampton Bays.

"Ben was a character gentleman," Brown said. "That's the best way to put it. He was a throwback. If he heard the younger guys cursing around women, he'd put them in their place." But he was also in many ways easygoing, enjoying a day of fishing, and was accepting of good-natured ribbing about his age, comrades said.

When he was no longer able to actually fight fires, Lupia dedicated himself to other fire department activities, such as teaching schoolchildren about fire safety and volunteering for the fire department's police.

With the fire police, he'd stop traffic to allow for the quick and safe exit and return of fire trucks to the fire house after an alarm and he took that role very seriously. "He'd say the fire police are the only members of the fire department whose sole responsibility is the safety of the other firemen," Brown said.

In addition to his grandson, Borell, Lupia is survived by his daughter Barbara Borell of Hampton Bays; a son, Benjamin W. Lupia of East Quogue; two other grandchildren and three great grandchildren.

Services were to be held Thursday and Friday at the J. Ronald Scott Funeral Home in Hampton Bays. A funeral Mass was scheduled for Saturday at St. Rosalie's, followed by burial at Good Ground Cemetery.