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October to December 2009
Regular weekly Friday website updates commenced on April 1, 2011.
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High Standard, 1817 Dixwell Avenue
Thursday, April 29, 1999
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| Capt. John Spencer - CLICK for more photos (Photos by Jeff Pechmann) |
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| 1982 - Platoon 1 packing hose on Leeder Hill Drive - Ffs. John Calamo (in foreground), John Corbett (at left on tailboard) and Mike Murray (up top) - Photo by John Tramontano |
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| Hamden's former city service "Hook & Ladder" truck, a 1941 Diamond-T from Woods Engineering, at the 1986 Hamden Bicentennial Fire Muster at Quinnipiac College |
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| c. 1980 - Firefighters Gaetano "Carmen" Amarante and Paul Reutenauer |
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| September 9, 1987 - Bassett's Service Station, 3050 Whitney Avenue (Courtesy of Clark Hurlburt) - CLICK for more photos |
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| c. 1959 - Ff. Stan Brown testing pump on the 1938 Seagrave at Station 2 (Courtesy of Chan Brainard) |
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| October 5, 1950 |
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October 5, 1950 - Fire Chief Raymond C. Spencer congratulates two newly promoted lieutenants and six new firefighters upon their appointments. (L-R): Ff. Lawrence Bellemore, Ff. Richard Lostritto, Ff. Robert Williams, Ff. William Bossoli, Ff. Burton Hillocks, Ff. Thomas Cummins, Lieut. Daniel Hume, Lieut. Emil Strain, and Chief Spencer.
Posted 10/11/09
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| July 8, 1969 |
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July 8, 1969 - Hamden Town Clerk Thomas Raccio sweares in (L-R) recruit firefighters Richard Kenyon, Robert Viglione, Gregory Shammett, Ralph Tomaselli, Robert Macauley, John Reilly and Douglas Yocher.
Posted 10/14/09
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| 1924 Stutz at Company 8 |
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14 Thayer Street
Monday, November 27, 1950
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This relatively new home on Thayer Street in the Pine Rock section sustained serious damage in a gas explosion that killed one occupant. Pictured here are Firefighter Tim Cummins and Capt. Everett Doherty. According to newspaper accounts, the home would have to be razed and rebuilt from scratch. (Original newspaper staff photo courtesy of Tom Doherty)
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| Marshal Albert Purce points to stress cracks in kitchen wall caused by the explosion. (Local 2687, IAFF) |
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| February 5, 1961 article from The New Haven Register (Courtesy of Gil Spencer) |
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Butterworth Mansion
640 Tuttle Avenue
February 15, 1955
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| New Haven Evening Register - February 15, 1955 (CLICK on photo for article and more photos) |
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| April 1988 - Platoon 2's Cmdr. Joe McDermott with Car 3, a 1987 GMC Jimmy, outside Station 4 |
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| HFD Telephone Numbers
1918-1988
The first commercial telephone exchange in the world - yes, in the world - was established on January 28, 1878 in New Haven. This eventually became the Southern New England Telephone Co.
The first Hamden telephone exchange was established in 1915. CLICK on either photo to read about the history of HFD telephony and the Hamden fire station telephone number that has remained the same since 1932!
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| Greater New Haven Firemen's Softball League Picnic - September 1960 (Photo courtesy of John O'Hare) |
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Seven Hamden firefighters and one future Hamden firefighter pose with other members of the 1960 Greater New Haven Firemen's Softball League in this end of season photo taken behind the Montewese fire station in North Haven.
1) Ray Bantz 2) Carmen Amarante 3) Art Heriot 4) Luke Tobin 5) Bob "Ace" Callahan
6) John O'Hare 7) Kevin O'Hare (who will join the HFD 27 years later) 8) Sal "Cookie" Ferraro
Posted 11/12/09
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MEETING NOTICE!
The next meeting of the Hamden Fire Retirees' Assn. will be held on Tuesday evening AT 7 pm, November 10th at the Elks Hall on School Street in Hamden. Brian Forsyth is offering a special dinner for us at 6 PM - SIX dollars a head! See details at the left.
Brian would like to get an approximate count, so if you know you will be attending the dinner, please let him know - email: flo428@sbcglobal.net Walk-ins are welcome, too.
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Weather Vane Restaurant Fire
Monday, December 7, 1964
Gil Spencer has provided an 8mm home movie, taken by his uncle, Harold Spencer of Hamden, of the December 1964 fire that destroyed the Weather Vane Restaurant. The Weather Vane was a well known landmark that stood on the east side of Whitney Avenue, just north of Brooksvale Avenue.
The movie has been digitally transcribed and is now available on YouTube. Click on the photo at right to watch the YouTube video.
Posted 12/6/09
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| CLICK on photo to view video |
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| As firefighters were advancing their first lines into the building. (Photo by John Mongillo, Jr.) |
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Reilly's Restaurant Fire
2392 Whitney Avenue
Friday, December 25, 1964
Friday, December 25, 1964 was not going to be a white Christmas. There was no doubt about that. The weather was more like a mid-April Easter.
By mid-morning, temperatures in southern Connecticut were in the 60s. And despite the very un-Christmas-like weather, everyone was hoping that the Christmas of 1964 would foster much fonder yuletide memories than those of the previous Christmas, which had arrived only five weeks after a shocking national tragedy.
All Hamden firefighters who were on the job in 1964 will always remember that balmy Christmas Day when Reilly's Restaurant burned. Click on the photo to read news accounts of the day as well as present day recollections from HFD retirees who spent Christmas 1964 at Reilly's.
Posted 12/25/09
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| Memorial Day 1965 - Chief V. Paul Leddy leads a large contingent of department members, about half of whom at the time were WWII veterans (I.A. Sneiderman) |
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Butterworth's Giant Valley Farm
640 Tuttle Avenue
Monday, August 10, 1998
A large horse barn and two other buildings were destroyed by a fire at the Butterworth's Farm late in the afternoon on Monday, August 10, 1998. Hamden firefighters were hindered by dry weather, high winds and no permanent water supply at the Tuttle Avenue site.
Mutual aid companies from Bethany, Cheshire, Wallingford and North Branford provided portable ponds and tankers. CLICK and view a blend of two television newscasts.
Posted 12/7/09
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| CLICK photo to view video |
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| 2000 Christmas Party Photos |
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| 1983 Christmas Party Photos |
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| Deck the (Town) Halls |
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