__________________________________________________________________________________________________________
|
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________
|
History Repeats Itself - Happy Birthday T.D.
|
 |
| "Ya wanna tell the bald guy to get off the rescue!" |
|
Following his recruit training in 1994, then-Firefighter Gary Merwede was assigned to Station 2 on Platoon 3, commanded by B/C Tom Doherty, whose birthday is December 7th.
While making his rounds on Merwede's first day on the shift, B/C Doherty stopped at Station 2 and spotted the young recruit sitting on the fender of Rescue 2. When he got out of Car 3, Doherty located then-Lieut. John Spencer. "Ya wanna tell the bald guy to get off the rescue?"
Batt. Chief Doherty retired in 1996 after 35 years on the job. Last week he returned to Station 2 for the first time since retiring to attend Jay Connolly's farewell reception. He noticed many changes since his own farewell gathering, most notably that his "new recruit" is now Acting Fire Chief. But, as this tribute meme demonstrates, the more things change the more they stay the same.
Happy birthday, Tom! (Without revealing his exact age, let's just say that Tom's 6th birthday was on a very memorable Sunday.)
|
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________
|
Deputy Fire Marshal Tim Lunn Retires
|
 |
| Dep.Marshal Tim Lunn |
|
The members of the Hamden Fire Retirees Association welcome yet another new member with the retirement last Friday afternoon of Deputy Fire Marshal Tim Lunn.
Tim came on the job in January 1996. The year before, as a member of the Madison Fire Department, Tim was among many out-of-town career and volunteer firefighters who helped members the Hamden Fire Department prepare for the upcoming 1995 Special Olympics World Games.
When Dep. Marshal Brian Dolan moved up to become Fire Marshal four years ago, Tim tested for and was subsequently appointed Hamden's Deputy Fire Marshal.
Your fellow members of the HFRA wish you all the very best in your future plans, Tim. Be safe.
|
A Seasonal Message from the HFD
The Hamden Fire Department would like you to be warm and safe this winter. Half of all home heating fires occur in the months of December, January, and February. With a few simple safety tips and precautions you can prevent most heating fires from happening.
• Keep anything that can burn at least three-feet away from heating equipment, like the furnace, fireplace, wood stove, or portable space heater.
• Have a three-foot “kid-free zone” around open fires and space heaters.
• Never use your oven to heat your home.
• Have a qualified professional install stationary space heating equipment, water heaters or central heating equipment according to the local codes and manufacturer’s instructions.
• Have heating equipment and chimneys cleaned and inspected every year by a qualified professional.
• Remember to turn portable heaters off when leaving the room or going to bed.
• Make sure the fireplace has a sturdy screen to stop sparks from flying into the room. Ashes should be cool before putting them in a metal container. Keep the container a safe distance away from your home.
• Test smoke alarms at least once a month.
Hamden town ordinance prohibits the use and sale of portable space heaters that use solid, liquid, or gaseous fuels.
|
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________
|
Bathroom Fire in Spring Glen
At 11:45 p.m. on Wednesday, December 5, 2018, Engine 3, Engine 2, Squad 1, Tower 1, Rescue 1, and Car 3 were dispatched to a reported structure fire at 115 Hawthorne Avenue. Engine 3 arrived first at 11:50 and reported all occupants were out of the home.
Engine 3's crew made entry to the home and encountered a heavy smoke condition emitting from the first floor bathroom. The crew was able to extinguish the fire using a fire extinguisher, confining the damage to the bathroom. Companies remained on scene until 12:39 a.m. checking for any fire extension and ventilating the home.
Fire Marshal Brian Dolan has determined that the accidental fire started in the bathroom light/fan assembly. The displaced residents will be staying with family while repairs are being made.
The website thanks the Fire Chief's Office and Acting Chief Gary Merwede for providing this article and photo.
|
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________
|
50 Years Ago
December 8, 1968 Town Dedicates New West Woods Fire Station
|
This weekend marks the 50th anniversary of the dedication of the West Woods firehouse, Station 9, the first free standing fire station built by the Town of Hamden.
Construction of a new fire station in West Woods was approved in March 1966. After its location was determined and a contractor selected, groundbreaking for the new station took place in December 1967. Once the station was built and manned, the residents of the far northwestern part of Hamden were finally served by a career engine company located closer than Bethany's fire headquarters on Route 63.
Prior to Station 9, Engine 5 out of the Mt. Carmel station was the first due career engine in West Woods. Since 1956, the West Woods area had been served by the very active members of the West Woods Volunteer Fire Company designated as Company 9, whose firehouse was converted from Hamden's last one-room school house at the corner of Johnson and Still Hill Roads.
|
 |
| December 1967 - Groundbreaking for new Station 9. Ten years earlier, the old one-room schoolhouse was modified with an annex for the apparatus assigned to Co. 9 volunteers. |
|
|
 |
| August 21, 1968 - Old Station 9 has been moved to its present location, just north and east of the site of the new station. The old bay has been transformed into a meeting room. (Hamden Historical Society) |
|
|
 |
| Under construction in the summer of 1968, on the exact spot where the old station stood before being moved. |
|
|
 |
| This New Haven Register photo by I.A. Sneiderman was captioned, "[Student Government Day] 'Fire Chief' Christopher Costanza with Fire Chief V. Paul Leddy getting a first hand look on the nearly constructed Westwoods Fire Station. Prestressed concrete beams are enclosng the roof." |
|
|
 |
| November 1968 - Completed but not yet occupied (From the 1968 Hamden Town Report) |
|
|
 |
| Dedication Program for Station 9 - December 8, 1968 (CLICK to enlarge) |
|
|
 |
| The New Haven Register, December 11, 1968 CLICK TO ENLARGE |
|
|
The two brand new Maxim S-Model 1000 GPM pumpers were on display for the dedication. One of the new pumpers was assigned as Engine 3 at Putnam Avenue and the other as Engine 4 at Headquarters. Car 40, Chief Leddy's brand new 1968 Chrysler, is parked at right.
|
 |
| The New Haven Journal-Courier, Monday, December 9, 1968 (Courtesy of Chan Brainard) |
|
|
 |
| The New Haven Register, Monday, December 9, 1968 (Courtesy of Chan Brainard) |
|
|
 |
| The New Haven Journal-Courier, December 11, 1968 (Courtesy of Gil Spencer) |
|
|
Dep. Chief Joseph Hromadka and Chief Leddy pose with the three firefighters who will man Engine 9 on Platoons 1, 2 and 3. The two new Maxim pumpers were placed in service as Engines 3 and 4.
|
 |
| Chief Dispatcher Wilbur Baker |
|
Engine 9 Misses Its First "Big One"
The Hamden Fire Department line personnel were still working a 56-hour workweek when Station 9 opened. Each of the three platoons at the new fire station was manned by only one firefighter.
Gil Spencer was Platoon 2's lone career firefighter assigned to Station 9. He recently recalled the early morning hours of December 29, 1968, when Engines 4 and 5, the rescue, the ladder truck and two volunteer companies were dispatched to 200 Todd Street. A chimney fire had extended into the attic.
Perhaps the dispatchers' running cards had not been updated or perhaps veteran dispatcher Wilbur "Bill" Baker was distracted, but Engine 9, the first due engine to that address, was never dispatched.
Perhaps the omission of Engine 9 from that particular assignment may have been a very wise and calculated move by the dispatcher. The night of the fire on Todd Street all roads in northern Hamden were a sheet of ice.
When their Plectron tone went off, two brothers, both volunteer firefighters, exited their house to respond to the fire. They never made it to the car. Instead, they skidded their way across the street on their butts. A fellow volunteer who lived nearby drove them to the fire. Had it been dispatched, Engine 9 probably would have slid all the way down Todd Street, across Whitney Avenue and into Mill River.
Fortunately, damage to the Todd Street dwelling was relatively minor, owing to a quick application of a minimal amount of water and lots of salvage covers.
Originally posted 12/13/13
|
 |
| Ff. Gil Spencer - 1968 |
|
1969: Exciting Year at 9's for Firefighter Spencer
Gil Spencer, Gene Maturo, and Warren Blake were the three men who were assigned to Station 9 during its first calendar year, 1969.
Gil is an archivist's dream. He saves everything. There is tons of hidden history in the hundreds of pages in the dozens of his day books. Whenever the subject of the opening of Station 9 arises, Gil chuckles.
In his first month at 9's, Gil answered a whopping three calls (it should have been four - see the article right above this one). But for the entire year of 1969, the average number of calls per month was somewhat lower.
Here is the entire list of calls Gil logged for 1969:
- January 29 - 283 Hill Street - 53 min.
- March 17 - Alice Peck School - Trash - 19 min.
- April 2 - 260 Hillfird Road - Brush - 30 min.
- May 4 - 68 Andover Road - Grass - 23 min.
- August 11 - 11 McDermott Circle - Car fire - 25 min.
- September 12 - Sterling School - False Alarm - 14 min.
- September 21 (wow, two in one month!) - Stand-by at HQ for fire at 204 Goodrich Street - 1 hr, 40 min.
- October 21 - 1950 Shepard Avenue - Car fire - 21 min.
- December 25 - Quinnipiac College - Smoke investigation - 24 min.
|
|
|
 |
| Alice Peck* |
|
| A Halloween Tale
In 1969, Station 9 firefighters worked
by themselves - but they weren't alone.
- From the October 30, 2015 Update -
|
 |
| Little Red Schoolhouse in West Woods |
|
Born in 1881, Alice Peck was a Hamden schoolteacher. For forty years Miss Peck taught West Woods children in the little red one-room schoolhouse, built in 1909 at the corner of Johnson and Still Hill Roads. She left the historic schoolhouse when she retired from teaching in 1950, but some believe that Miss Peck was still hanging around the neighborhood long after that.
Miss Peck's little red schoolhouse closed in June 1954, when a brand new elementary school named for her was built up the street. But the old schoolhouse that Miss Peck had taught in for so many years did not remain vacant for very long.
In 1956, the citizens of northwestern Hamden organized the West Woods Volunteer Fire Association and acquired Miss Peck's former schoolhouse for their quarters. They even added a new wing in 1958 to house their fire apparatus.
In 1967 the town decided that a new fire station was needed for West Woods. In early 1968, the town moved the old schoolhouse-turned-firehouse to the rear of the property so that a new fire station could be built right where it had stood for nearly sixty years.
|
 |
| 1958 - Old schoolhouse converted into fire station |
|
|
 |
| 1968 - New location - Bay converted to meeting room |
|
|
 |
| 1968 - New Station 9 on same site as old schoolhouse |
|
During the summer and fall of 1968, the department's new Station 9 went up on the site of the old schoolhouse. Dedication ceremonies were held on Sunday, December 8, 1968. Firefighters Warren Blake, Gil Spencer and Gene Maturo were the first personnel assigned to the new station, on Platoons 1, 2 and 3, respectively.
The first couple of months were fairly uneventful for the three firefighters - boring, in fact. So boring, that in late December the dispatcher actually forgot to include Engine 9 on the running assignment when sending apparatus to a Todd Street house fire.
In February 1969 things began to get a lot more interesting.
At this point it should be made clear that Station 9 was kept locked at night, from 10 until 7 the next morning. A key to the building was hidden inside the Gamewell Box 158, mounted on the front of the building, so personnel could get back inside on those very rare occasions when the engine was distpatched during the night. But between 10 p.m. and 7 a.m., Station 9 was locked up tight. Only the lone firefighter assigned there could let anyone in.
|
 |
| 1968 - Firefighters Blake, Spencer and Maturo |
|
Blake, Maturo and Spencer bunked in the officers' room on their respective shifts. Late on the first of his four nights in a row, Gil Spencer was the only person in the fire station. Before hitting the sack, he made his usual check of the fire station. The building was locked. Spencer retired to his bunk.
Suddenly, Spencer was startled by sounds coming from outside the officers' room. The hallway door opened and closed. What? This was followed by footsteps heading down toward the dayroom. The station was locked. But someone else was in the building.
Spencer knew this had to be a gag. Anyone who has ever worked with other firefighters knows that firehouse pranks sometimes get pretty intense, from finding real dead snakes languishing in your bed to participating in actual pie fights a la Moe, Larry and Curly. True! Spencer figured that someone, another firefighter no doubt, opened Box 158, retrieved the key and entered the station.
But Spencer found no one else in the fire station that night. Whoever made those creepy noises in the hallway outside the officers' room also made a quick getaway. But how? The station was locked!
The door and footstep noises continued in the days and weeks that followed. Finally, Spencer reluctantly approached Blake and Maturo. Maybe they'll think I'm nuts, he thought, but he had to know if Blake and Maturo also heard the strange noises when they were on duty.
Indeed, Warren Blake and Gene Maturo also reported hearing the same eerie late-night sounds of doors opening and closing, as well as the footsteps with nobody there.
In time, the noises eventually stopped. But Spencer knows what he heard was real. He believes the slamming doors and footsteps that he, Blake and Maturo heard during the winter of 1969 were manifestations of the ghost of Miss Alice Peck, haunting the very space where she performed her life's work.
_____________________
Were these three guys imagining things? Maybe. Maybe not. This week, while researching Alice Peck for this article, the author discovered that Miss Peck had passed away while visiting in Waterbury on Saturday, February 22, 1969. Her funeral was February 26th, when Gil Spencer first heard Station 9's unseen visitor.
Happy Halloween!
Posted 10/30/15
*Portrait of Alice Peck captured from Ancestry.com
|
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________
|
|
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.
|
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________
|
|
