| Hamden Fire Retirees Association, Inc. |
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| CLICK here for daily flag status |
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FRIDAY, MARCH 21, 2014
Website is updated every Friday - Important interim updates will be posted when necessary
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| CLICK to go to HGSRA webpage |
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| CLICK PHOTO |
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| FUNDRAISER
Connecticut Firefighters Pipes
& Drums Benevolent Fund
This Friday Night, March 28th - 5-10
Dunn's Pub - 2345 Whitney Ave.
$5 cover includes drinks specials,
food and live music.
Guinness will be engraving glasses.
Raffle, too!
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132 Santa Fe Avenue
Thursday, March 25, 1971
On a brisk March afternoon forty-three years ago this week, a boy delivering newspapers discovered fire coming from the roof of this colonial-style house on Santa Fe Avenue. Engines 3, 4 and 6, Ladder 2 and Rescue 2 responded with Car 30 (Deputy Chief Hromadka) and Car 40 (Chief Leddy).
Chan Brainard sent us this remarkable photo of fire breaking through the roof as Hamden firefighters with a hand line ascend the homeowner's ladder, already in place. The homeowner had been making repairs to the gutter using a torch to melt adhesive. Not surprisingly, the result was extensive damage to the roof and attic of this rambling Spring Glen home, and injuries to three Hamden firefighters.
The Santa Fe Avenue fire location was directly next door to the Brainard home at 12 Middle Road. All of these color photos were taken by Chan's mother! Chan was already living on the West Coast. His mom regularly mailed him news articles of local fire department activities, many of which are now in the HFRA archives.
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| Louise Brainard Photo |
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The article below refers to a "hidden attic." From inside the house, the fire floor was accessible only by way of a pull-down stairway located in the room above the garage. So firefighters popped the roof scuttle for an initial attack, and created openings elsewhere on the roof to achieve effective ventilation.
The man on the nozzle has been identified as Firefighter Joe Shields. The officer with him would have been Lieut. Dave Hermann. Both were assigned to Engine 3.
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| New Haven Register, Friday, March 26, 1971 (Courtesy of Gil Spencer) |
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| Louise Brainard Photo |
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The 1968 Maxim S model at left in the background is parked on the Middle Road side of the "fire" house, which faces Santa Fe Avenue. It is either Engine 3 or Engine 4. They were identical. The 1954 Maxim in the foreground is Engine 6, which had been quartered at Station 3 since it moved from Merritt Street six months earlier. Engine Co. 6 was de-activated in 1974.
Below left, a Hamden firefighter is on what appears to be the homeowner's extension ladder. All Hamden grtound ladders at the time were wooden. The photo on the right shows the extent of the damage to the attic and roof.
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| Louise Brainard Photo (CLICK to enlarge) |
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| Louise Brainard Photo (CLICK to enlarge) |
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Interior access to the attic was a problem, so the roof was breached in several places to reach the fire and to allow for ventilation.
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New Haven Parks Department
Park Road (Hamden)
Monday, March 14, 1977
A nasty fire in a New Haven Parks Department's storage building on Park Road kept Hamden firefighters of Platoon 2 very busy on a windy night thirty-seven years ago this past week. The building was already well involved before the arrival of the first engine, Engine 3. Firefighters' efforts were hampered by winds that threatened to spread the fire to adjacent buildings. Fire Marshal Bob O'Donnell determined that it had been set.
Posted 3/21/14
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| New Haven Register, Tuesday, March 15, 1977 (Courtesy of Gil Spencer) |
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Happy Birthday
this week to HFD chaplain
Rev. Owen Sanderson
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The New Haven Evening Register
March 25, 1957
(Courtesy of Chan Brainard)
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The New & Improved EM44
Website thanks to Bob Freeman, who heads Hamden's Community Emergency Response Team (CERT), for sending these before and after photos of Hamden CERT's command vehicle, EM44, which is currently being refurbished.
Bob wrote, "This vehicle is a tribute to not only the CERT Members but all of our firefighters, active and retired. As you well know, one of the main goals of the CERT Program is to assist our First Responders and contribute our share for the professionalism and dedication they provide."
Hamden's CERT volunteers are a credit to our community and public safety.
Posted 3/21/14
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Exterior cosmetics included a switch from green to red, but more improvements will be inside.
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| EM44 is stored at Station 3. |
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