| Hamden Fire Retirees Association, Inc. |
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| CLICK here for daily flag status |
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FRIDAY, APRIL 6, 2018
Website is updated every Friday - Important interim updates will be posted when necessary
Next regular update is Friday, April 13th.
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| CLICK to monitor HFD radio |
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HFRA Spring Quarterly Meeting
NEXT Wednesday, April 11th at 12 NOON
Hamden Elks' Lodge, 175 School Street
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Anything for the Good of the Association
Menu
We're sending out for PIZZA!
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All retired and active HFD welcome!
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Regular Members Only: 2018 dues of $15 must be received by the April 11th HFRA meeting or the Local 2687 Retirement Dinner on the 14th. A NEW web password will be emailed to current members on April 15th.
If you have yet to pay your dues and cannot attend, please send your $15 check made out to "HFRA" to:
HFRA - PO Box 185605 - Hamden, CT 06518
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70 Years Ago
Flooded Hamden Homes
HFD's Wartime "Blitz Buggies" Pressed Into Service
In the years immediately following World War II, Hamden experienced a housing boom in many sections of town, especially in the Hamden Plains and Pine Rock areas. Many of these housing developments and the new streets on which they were built were still under construction in the first week of April 1948, when The Hamden Chronicle reported that a huge downpour had caused major flooding on some of the new streets and in the basements of those new houses, damaging some construction equipment.
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| The Hamden Chronicle - April 8, 1948 (Courtesy of the Hamden Historical Society) |
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| Wartime Maxim "Blitz Buggies" ca. 1942 |
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In the aftermath, numerous outraged home owners contacted the town to fix the problems caused by the poor road grading. However, many of the affected streets had yet to be admitted into the town's street system, so the town technically was not responsible for fixing them. But First Selectman Michael Whalen did take action to abate some of the problems caused by the flooding.
When water overflowed Dick's Pond in the Hamden Plains section of town, the fire department pressed its two wartime Maxim 500 g.p.m. "Blitz Buggies" into service to lower the level of the pond. Maxim's "Blitz Buggy" was a gasoline powered 500 g.p.m. pump, mounted on a trailer, that could be either hand drawn or pulled by a motor vehicle. The Hamden Fire Department purchased two of these units through the O.B. Maxwell Co. for $1,662 each.
Hamden's 1942 Town Report listed the Blitz Buggies as "Defense Equipment." Thus, began a unique era in the history of the Hamden Fire Department. According to one newspaper article, one of the Blitz Buggies was "stationed in a garage in Spring Glen . . . under the direction of Calvin Shepard, captain of the newly-formed Spring Glen fire fighting unit." The other was assigned to "the Pine Rock section . . . under the supervision of fire marshal and newly-retired Chief Charles P. Loller."
The Spring Glen and Pine Rock area auxiliary fire companies eventually disbanded and the Blitz Buggies were moved to the Whitneyville and Mt. Carmel stations. Both units were still listed on a department inventory dated February 5, 1952. A notation added to that same inventory indicated that the Blitz Buggy housed at Whitneyville was traded in to the O.B. Maxwell Co. on July 16, 1952 as a partial payment on the 1952 Maxim 750 pumper.
It is not known for certain what happened to the Blitz Buggy stationed at Mt. Carmel, but it is believed to have been purchased by a local farm for irrigation.
Posted 4/6/2018
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| Arcadia Street - April 3, 1948 (I.A. Sneiderman photo courtesy of the Hamden Historical Society) |
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55 Years Ago
April 3, 1963
"The Office" Night Club
32 Lee Street
Originally posted eight years ago, we are recycling this story on the 55th anniversary of the fire.
(CLICK on the photo for the original posting)
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The well-known joke about this "night club" that once stood on the north side of Lee Street just off Dixwell, was that a guy could call his wife at home and say that he would be late for dinner because he was "still at 'The Office'."
Originally posted 4/30/10
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40 Years Ago
Firefighter Ralph Tomaselli and Civilians Recognized for Heroic Efforts Following Blast
(CLICK on the photo for the original posting)
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| L-R: Craig Reynolds, Rev. Owen Sanderson, HFA Pres. Bob Slater, Wolfram Kominskas, Ff. Tomaselli, and Bob Stone. |
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April 6, 1978 - At the annual dinner at Reilly's Restaurant, Hamden Firefighters' Association president Bob Slater presents the 1978 Alfred Ramelli Award to Firefighter Ralph Tomaselli. On October 18, 1977, Ff. Tomaselli, who was off duty, and the civilians pictured here were at the scene within seconds to search for and assist victims following an apartment building explosion at 1181 Whitney Avenue.
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30 Years Ago
April 7, 1988 - New Rescue 1 Placed in Service
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April 7, 1988 - Parked at the Shop just before being placed in service is the department's new Rescue 1 on a GMC chassis. This was the department's third rescue with a modular body since the much earlier 1971 Ford, that succeeded the 1958 International as Rescue 1, and the 1975 Ford that started out as Rescue 2 and had become ”Tac 1.” This rescue's modular body was donated by the New Haven Ambulance Service.
Below are Supt. of Alarms & Apparatus Paul Wetmore Sr., Hydrant Maintainer Larry Gershman, and Asst. Supt. Mike Murray, in a photo that was shot just a few feet from, and at the same time as the upper photo.
Posted 4/6/2018
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| Repair Shop - April 1988 |
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80 Years Ago
Hamden's First "Rescue"
These two 1938 photos from the archives of the Connecticut Fire Museum were taken when Hamden's Diamond-T "Emergency Squad" truck was brand new. Four years later, Supt. Clem Wetmore mounted a windshield for the rear step riders, which remained on the truck until it was sold in 1971.
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| Arthur Selleck photo, courtesy of Rob Palmer |
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| Arthur Selleck photo, courtesy of Rob Palmer |
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The location is not given, but the railroad cars in the background suggest that the photos may have been taken in the State Street-Welton Street area.
Posted 4/6/2018
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NEVER FORGET!
We will always remember our brother firefighters who made the supreme sacrifice, and the thousands of other innocent victims who lost their lives on September 11, 2001.
Always keep them, their families and the FDNY in your thoughts and prayers.
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