The nickname came early, not from school or sports, but from the back of an ambulance. Fresh out of high school, Donald Moltrup delivered three babies in his first week riding with the Hyattsville Volunteer Fire Department (HVFD). That was in 1962. The name “Doc,” naturally, stuck.

More than 60 years later, that legendary nickname remains firmly stamped on the hearts of the Hyattsville community.

Chief Emeritus Donald “Doc” Moltrup, a Hyattsville institution and nationally recognized fire service leader, died this summer after a brief illness.

“Doc’s legacy is the Hyattsville Volunteer Fire Department,” said current HVFD Chief Henry Sullivan. “Without him, our department would exist mainly in name only.”

Moltrup’s contributions spanned decades, but few of those contributions compare to the living legacy of HVFD’s live-in program, which is one of the first of its kind in the nation. Created by Doc, the program allows college students to live rent free at the station while attending school, pulling full shifts and gaining frontline experience as volunteer firefighters and EMTs. Many students come from around the world and are enrolled in nearby schools, including George Washington University and The Catholic University of America. 

Today, the program is paramount to how the department is staffed. Many of the HVFD’s current officers, including Sullivan, are former live-ins.

“I learned more about firefighting, life, leadership and myself than I could have ever imagined during my years as a live-in,” Sullivan said. “Doc’s leadership allowed this experience to be a part of thousands of young men and women’s lives, and those lucky enough to have lived in his firehouse have gone on to help shape and change not only the HVFD, but the entire fire service nationwide.”

Moltrup became HVFD chief in 1970 and served for 35 years until his retirement in 2005. Under his watch, the station transformed from a local firehouse into a training ground for generations of firefighters. He was also instrumental in Prince George’s County Fire and Emergency Medical Services, serving as one of the first volunteer battalion chiefs and later becoming the county’s first volunteer deputy chief.

Even after stepping down as HVFD chief in 2005, Doc never really left. He moved to Ocala, Fla., but remained a presence in Hyattsville — returning for board meetings, mentoring new members, and showing up with the same passion and curiosity he’d brought as a teenager.

“By the time I joined, Doc was chief emeritus,” said Nick Seminerio, HVFD’s vice president and an operational lieutenant. “A lot of our older members don’t stay as active and engaged, as [is] to be expected, but every time he was up here, he’d email the whole department and be at the firehouse. He was involved with our apparatus committees; he was still part of everything.”

Seminerio said that, even during his retirement, Doc made himself available at all hours. “You could pick up the phone and call him anytime, and he’d be there with advice,” he said. “The fire service was really in his blood.”

Born with a curiosity for the work, Moltrup grew up reading Fireman magazine and idolizing the profession. He studied electrical engineering at the University of Maryland but spent his weekends sleeping at the station, drawn to the unpredictability and purpose of the job, according to the HVFD’s 1996 archival newsletter. 

Moltrup lived among the constant buzz of emergency radio scanners in his home, typically keeping around no fewer than three at a time. “I guess I have trouble saying no,” he noted in a 1996 interview for the newsletter.

Still, he made time for family. And over the years, HVFD became part of that family. According to the HVFD, Doc’s wife, Carole; his son, Dale; and his brother, David, have all earned “life member” status.

Doc’s reputation stretched far beyond Hyattsville. He received citations from multiple Maryland governors, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, and former President George W. Bush. In recent years, Doc was inducted into both the Maryland Fire Chiefs Association Hall of Fame and the National Fire Heritage Center’s Hall of Legends, Legacies and Leaders — one of the highest honors in the U.S. fire service, according to the HVFD.

But for those who knew him, it wasn’t the plaques and accolades that made Doc a legend.

“Doc was a bit like a collective grandfather of the HVFD,” Sullivan said. “He may have forgotten a few fires he responded to, but he remembered everything about the hundreds — maybe thousands — of young folks he watched over.”

And they remembered him.

“Without people like Doc who started those programs way back when, I think the volunteer fire service would not be where it is today,” Seminerio said. “He was passionate, he was engaged, and above all, he was a good human.”

Even now, Doc’s presence lingers in the rhythm of the station, in the stories passed down to recruits, in the bunk beds occupied by today’s live-ins, in the trucks he helped design and the values he instilled.

“We have high school members who’ve gone on to become career firefighters, doctors, lawyers, nurses,” Seminerio said. “Just a lot of good people doing great things, and a lot of that’s a testament to Doc.”

Jade Tran is an undergraduate journalism student at the University of Maryland.