Longtime Cherry Hill Fire Lieutenant To Retire

CHERRY HILL, NJ — A longtime firefighter in Cherry Hill is getting ready to soon enjoy a little more free time on his hands. Lt. Harry L. Cranmer Jr. will retire from active service with the Cherry Hill Fire Department on Thursday.

According to the Cherry Hill Fire Department, prior to his full-time hiring, Cranmer worked as a firefighter for the Princeton Plasma Physics Emergency Services and also as a volunteer member of the Erlton Fire Company.

Sworn in as a firefighter in Oct. 1994, Cranmer was assigned to Station 2, which at that time provided daytime career staffing. In March of 1995, he was transferred to Station 3 which staffed an Engine, Ladder and Rescue Company out of the Marlkress Road Firehouse.

The hiring of additional personnel in June 1997 brought Cranmer a transfer to Engine 1352 on the B Platoon, where he served for a year before being transferred back to Station 2 on the same platoon in July 1998. In Jan, 2002, Cranmer was transferred east to Ladder 1344 on the C Platoon where he remained assigned until Sept. 2003 when he was transferred back to Company 3 on the B Platoon.

In Nov. 2004, Cranmer was promoted to the rank of lieutenant and assigned to the Field Command Office as a float officer on the B Platoon. He was assigned to Engine 1322 on the A Platoon in May 2006 where he served until receiving his final assignment of Ladder 1334/Rescue 13 (now Rescue Ladder 13) in Feb. 2012.

Cranmer was the recipient of three departmental unit citations while assigned to the Rescue Ladder Company. In 2015, he was recognized for his actions commanding a technical rescue operation involving the extrication and lowering of a worker who was pinned in a tree by a cut tree limb.

In 2017, he received awards for a fire incident involving a propane cylinder fire inside a residence with a trapped occupant, and a rescue incident involving the removal of a worker from a roof who was in cardiac arrest. Numerous departmental accolades awarded to Cranmer reflect his years of dedicated service.

"On behalf of the entire department and the Board of Fire Commissioners, we wish Lt. Harry Cranmer success in his future endeavors and thank him for his service to our organization and the citizens of Cherry Hill," the Cherry Hill Fire Department said on its official Facebook page.