| Hamden Fire Retirees Association, Inc. |
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FRIDAY, DECEMBER 19, 2014
Website is updated every Friday - Important interim updates will be posted when necessary
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Through the years the spirit of the season has been expressed in many ways during December at Hamden fire stations. But this Mount Carmel display sixty-three years ago was truly unique. CLICK TO ENLARGE.
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| December 20, 1951 Chronicle article (left) and December 16, 1951 Register photo (right) |
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Platoon 2, Station 4 - 1968
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| 1968 - Platoon 2, Station 4 (Photo courtesy of Bob Slater and Ernestine Hines) |
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Website thanks go out to HFRA member Bob Slater for sending along several outstanding images taken from photos and slides given to him by Ernestine Hines, widow of Lieut. Bill Hines (1918-1979). Here are two of Bill's photos - slides, actually - taken at Headquarters in the summer of 1968. Above is Bill's old Platoon 2 crew outside Station 4. (L-R): Firefighters John Hoffman, Paul Reutenauer, and Jimmy Moore. Ff. Gil Spencer is in the upper right. Below is the 1965 Mack, which was Engine 4 at the time. In October 1968 it was transferred to Station 2 and replaced at Headquarters by a new S Model Maxim.
Posted 12/19/14
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| Engine 4 - 1965 Mack (Photo courtesy of Bob Slater and Ernestine Hines) |
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Platoon 2, Station 4 - Forty-six Years Later
Former Chief Tramontano Given a Friendly Welcome
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| Station 4 - December 13, 2014 - L-R: Lieut. Jeff Naples, Batt. Chief John Spencer, Ff. John Coughlin, Chief Tramontano, Ff. Brian Gagnon and Ff. Chip Talmadge |
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Retired Hamden Fire Chief John Tramontano stopped in at Station 4 when he was in town last weekend. Lieut. Jeff Naples and his crew gave the Chief the grand tour. It was the former chief's first visit to 4's since renovations were completed a little over two years ago.
Posted 12/19/14
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"Car 1, Signal 61!"
Chief John Tramontano posed at the wheel of this classic 1935 Ford DeLuxe 5-window "Chief Engineer" coupe at the Pierce factory in Appleton, Wisconsin, when he traveled there with Supt. Paul Wetmore, Sr. and Capt. Bill Coppola to pick up Hamden's two new Pierce Dash pumpers in late November 1984.
Posted 12/19/14
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| November 1984 - Chief John Tramontano at the wheel of Pierce's 1935 Ford Coupe |
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Chief Leddy Inspects His Final Order
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| December 1984 - Retired Hamden Fire Chief V. Paul Leddy with Engine 4, a 1984 Pierce Dash 1,000 GPM Pumper (Photo by John Tramontano) |
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| The Two Chiefs - 12/2/84 |
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When Chief Tramontano returned home from Appleton with one of the two new Pierce Dash pumpers, one of his first stops was the Cumpstone Drive home of newly retired Chief V. Paul Leddy to take the former chief for a spin.
The specifications for two new Pierce pumpers were the result of efforts of a department-wide design committee organized in late 1983. The pumpers were the last apparatus ordered under Chief Leddy's leadership prior to his April 1984 retirement.
Posted 12/19/14
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| This photo taken last October 21st when IAFF President General Schaitberger visited Station 3 was prominently featured in the Fall issue of the I.A.F.F. magazine "Fire Fighter" (Courtesy of D/C Gary Merwede) CLICK to enlarge |
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Chief discovers long gone but not forgotten pick-up truck in 1984 slide.
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Chief David Berardesca shot off an email to the website last week after we posted photos of Hamden's live fire training session at Wallingford Fire Headquarters taken in December 1984, when he was a Wallingford firefighter with five years on the job. Careful scrutiny of one photo revealed Berardesca's 1981 Chevy Silverado pick-up truck sitting in the parking lot. "I still miss it," wrote the Chief.
Below, between evolutions in the smoke house, four Hamden firefighters take a breather on the rear bumper of WFD's ambulance, a piece to which Hamden's future chief was then assigned.
Posted 12/19/14
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| Firefighters Dave McDermott, Charlie Cargan, Gerry Dinneen and Paul Petrillo |
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