Chief V. Paul Leddy had been head of the Hamden Fire Department for less than a month when an early evening fire killed three young children at 135 Shepard Street. A few days later a manslaughter warrant was signed against the landlady because authorities believed that code violations in the residence had led to the blaze. Charges against the landlady were later dropped when the coroner could not determine that the code viiolations led directly to the fire that caused the three deaths.
If this tragedy had occured today, charges most certainly would have been filed against others. Read the article.
Posted 12/4/15
CONTINUED BELOW
New Haven Evening Register, Wednesday, December 7, 1960 (Courtesy of Chan Brainard)
New Haven Evening Register, Wednesday, December 14, 1960 (Courtesy of Chan Brainard)
Retired Battalion Chief Tom Doherty is one of the HFRA's most active retirees. He was appointed to the department fifty-five years ago this week and retired in 1996 after nearly 36 years on the job.
Oh yeah, also this week Tom turned 80. The members of the HFRA wish Tom a Happy 80th.
BC Doherty September 1994
Aug. 30, 1996 at 0800 hrs. - After more than 35 years on the job, many present and former members of Platoon 3 bid farewell to B/C Tom Doherty at the conclusion of his final shift. Four of the attendeesthat morning nearly two decades ago are still on the job.
Standing L-R: Lt. Frank Critchett, Dep. Chief Tim Sullivan, Capt. Dave Johnson, Capt. Paul Wetmore, Jr., Batt. Chief Doherty, Dave McDermott, Ed Emerson, Kurt Vogt, Jim Moore, Paul Frodel, Mark Pratt, Rich Otlowski, Harold Mangler, Bob Stacy, Roberta Angiletta, Capt. Don LaBanca, John O'Dea, Rob Madigoski, Paul Durkin, Joe Anderson, John Longo, and Lt. Doug Yocher. Kneeling: Harold Prescher, Mike Green, Henry Puciato, and Bob Anthony.
Tom was succeeded as Platoon 3 shift commander by Paul Wetmore, Jr., who was succeeded by Don LaBanca, who was succeeded earlier this year by Rich Otlowski. All three are pictured here.
CLICK to enlarge.
(Photo by Ff. Scott Chasney)
Originally posted 8/19/09
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Happy Birthday B/C Doherty!
The Man Hits the Big 8-0
Friday, December 11th - About ten active department members were on hand at Station 3 Thursday afternoon to wish Tom Doherty many happy returns on his 80th birthday the previous Monday. The crew at 3s provided a tasty chocolate cake for Tom as well as for Dave Johnson, whose birthday was Thursday.
While everyone sat around the kitchen table enjoying their cake, Dep. Chief Gary Merwede recalled his first encounter with Battalion Chief Doherty twenty-one years earlier. While perched upon the fender of the 1988 GMC that was Rescue 2, brand new recruit firefighter Merwede watched Batt. Chief Doherty whisk by him to speak to the lieutenant, "Ya wanna tell the bald guy to get off the rescue?"
Everyone roared, especially Tom. And that was only one of dozens of classic firehouse stories shared in Station 3's kitchen Thursday afternoon, many of which involved our brothers who are long gone but not forgotten. And, as D/C Merwede correctly noted, "You just can't make this stuff up."
Tom revealed afterward how glad he was to know that his no-nonsense management style - firm, always fair, and usually peppered with a hint of humor - and many of his patented expressions were known to many of today's active personnel who came on the job long after Tom left it. And, hopefully, never to be forgotten.
Posted 12/11/15
Lt. Rich Lennon, Ff. Dave Beaton, Ff. Doug O'Rourke, B/C Gary Couture, B/C Tom Doherty (Ret.),
Capt. Dave Johnson (Ret.), Ff. Paul Anderson, Capt. Brion Tierney and Ff. Mike Dowling.
The HFRA thanks website contributor Rob Palmer for these two photos, new to the website, of Hamden's 1938 Diamond-T "Emergency Squad," taken c. 1939 by photographer Arthur Selleck (from the collection of the Connecticut Firemen's Historical Society in Manchester).
Photo by Arthur Selleck (Connecticut Firemen's Historical Society)
Photo by Arthur Selleck (Connecticut Firemen's Historical Society)
Town Clerk Vera Morrison administers the oath to Capt. Adam Barletta, Lt. Kevin P. Martin and Lt. Michael Dowling
A happy moment for all three as Lt. Dowling's wife, Sara, pins on his new badge.
Dec. 18 - The Hamden Board of Fire Commissioners met Wednesday night to fill one captain and two lieutenant vacancies. Lieut. Adam Barletta was promoted to captain and Firefighters Michael Dowling and Kevin P. Martin were promoted to lieutenant. Dozens of active and retired department members joined family members at the swearing-in ceremony on Thursday morning in the rotunda of Memorial Town Hall.
Captain Adam Barletta, a fifteen year veteran, will be assigned to Station 9 on Platoon 2. He fills the vacancy created when Capt. John Grasso was recently re-appointed to the position of training officer. Capt. Barletta is the son of Mark and Marty Barletta. Mark served as Hamden's fourth fire marshal from 2000 until his 2006 retirement (q.v.).
Lieutenant Michael Dowling, an eight-year department veteran firefighter assigned to Platroon 4 since his appointment, has been re-assigned to Station 2 on Platoon 3. Lt. Dowling is a member of the Connecticut Firefighters Pipes and Drums and frequently performs on the bagpipes with HFD Capt. Ed Evers on formal department occasions.
Lieutenant Kevin P. Martin was appointed to the department in 2008 and served on Platoon 1, most recently with Capt. Evers' crew on Squad 1. He has been re-assigned to Station 3 on Platoon 2. Lt. Martin was recently married and is a player on the HFD Hockey Team. He is one of the active members who maintains the website of Local 2687.
2015, a near record year*, has seen the appointments of seven new firefighters, and the promotions of three battalion chiefs, four captains, three lieutenants, Training Officer, Deputy Fire Marshal, Superintendent and Asst. Supt. of Apparatus.
The HFRA wishes Capt. Barletta and Lieutenants Dowling and Martin the very best in their new capacities.
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*Only 1984 saw more promotions: Chief, Assistant Chief, two shift commanders (BCs), four captains (out of 5), nine lieutenants (out of 12), Training Officer, Deputy Fire Marshal and Mechanic. But no new firefighters.
Posted 12/18/17
Capt. Barletta
Lieutenant Martin
Lieutenant Dowling
Only some of the spectators - The place was full
Dep. Chief Gary Merwede, Capt. Barletta, Lieut. Martin, Lieut. Dowling and Chief David Berardesca
Mark Barletta Sworn In As HFD's Deputy Fire Marshal
Monday, December 18, 2000
Almost 15 years to the day before his son was sworn in as Hamden's newest fire captain, Mark Barletta was sworn in as Hamden's fourth Deputy Fire Marshal* on Monday, December 18, 2000.
The occasion also marked the swearing-in of eight recruit firefighters, including Michael Battick, David Beaton, Michael DeLine, Sr., Victor Jackson, Charles Lubowicki, Jr., Kevin Recca, John Slot and Kim Talmadge, all of whom had finished recruit training following their October 6, 2000 appointments.
Mark Barletta served as Hamden's fourth Deputy Fire Marshal, from 2000 until he succeeded Bob Westervelt as the department's fourth Fire Marshal*, from 2003 until his retirement on June 30, 2006. He also served as the HFRA's first president until he and his wife Marty moved to Florida two years ago. Marty Barletta was one of Hamden's first four civil service civilian fire dispatchers, serving during the late 1970s and early 1980s.
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*Fire Marshal Albert Purce (1943-68), Fire Marshal Robert O'Donnell (1968-87) and Fire Marshal Robert Westervelt (1987-2000) were the first three department marshals. Prior to Marshal Purce's 1943 appointment, the fire marshal's duties were performed by the First Selectman.
The date, location and circumstances of this accident are not known, neither is the Hamden firefighter in the photo, but the fence posts suggest it occurred on a main artery.
The body style of this particular Chevy Corvair ran from 1960 through the 1964 model. The trim on this Chevrolet Corvair looks to be from a 1960 model, the first year of production. 1965 models saw a complete facelift, which lasted until the end of production with the 1969 model year.
The Corvair, with it's VW-like 4 cylinder rear engine and front-end trunk and gasoline tank, was the subject of Ralph Nader's 1965 groundbreaking exposé "Unsafe at Any Speed," which led to many improvements in vehicle safety.
Pictured on the same spot as the group in the photo above, Lieut. Frank Eitler, Ff. Guy White and Ff. Jeff Stoehr of Platoon 3 were featured in this December 15, 1975 Register photo heralding the MDA canister drive.
Lieut. Eitler was appointed on December 5, 1947, was promoted to lieutenant in 1972 and retired October 1, 1981. He and his wife Helen were regulars at Local 2687 retirement dinners until the late-1990s. Frank passed away in 2000.
Jeff Stoehr joined the department in July 1970, was promoted to lieutenant in July 1986 and retired at the end of June 2003. Guy White joined the department in 1971. He left in 1978 for a fire investigator position with an insurance company in Georgia. Jeff and Guy are both members of the HFRA.
This Public Domain photo of unknown origin shows a team of three horses hauling an ancient fire department water tower down F Street in Washington, D.C. Despite the 19-teens auto in the background, it is likely that this unit was still in service as a horse drawn piece when the photo was taken.
Apparatus like this very specialized piece for delivering massive amounts of water were found in many larger departments in the days when aerial ladders, usually made of wood, could not support master streams. These water towers often survived the horse-drawn era, sometimes well into the 1960s, with the addition of motorized tractors.
Posted 12/18/15
Website thanks to HFD Lt. Daryl Osiecki for additional information
about this photo, which will be shared in next week's update.
To our brothers and sisters who continue to serve in the fire, police and EMS services, in Hamden and elsewhere, we wish you and yours a Merry Christmas
and a very Happy, Healthy and Safe 2016.
Members of the Hamden Fire Retirees Association, Inc.
Donates Over 15 Thousand Dollars to Hospice of Connecticut
Twenty years ago this week the few remaining members of the Hamden Paid Firemen's Sick Benefit Association presented a check for over $15,000 to Hospice of Connecticut following a vote to dissolve the organization one month earlier.
The Hamden Paid Firemen's Sick Benefit Association was organized in 1948 to provide financial assistance to paid fire personnel who were unable to work due to illness or injury. The Sick Benefit Association replaced the Hamden Fireman's Benevolent Association, which had been organized in 1932 by and for both paid and substitute/volunteer Hamden fire personnel.
When collective bargaining for public employees was legalized in the mid-1960s, the Sick Benefit Association's primary role changed to that of a bargaining unit for its non-management members, although modest benefits were still paid out to qualifying members.
In minutes of the January 14, 1967 meeting, Sick Benefit Association secretary Walt Macdowall wrote, "The Association received a letter from Mayor [John] DeNicola {Sr.] acknowledging this Association as the sole bargaining agent for The Hamden Fire Department."
Earliest surviving minutes - Meeting #2
The members of the Sick Benefit Association elected negotiators to negotiate their labor contracts and working conditions with town officials and department management. But there was a problem. The Association's membership also included the Chief, the Fire Marshal, the Deputy Chief shift commanders and the Deputy Chief Training Officer, all of them management employees at the time.
During the next decade, the majority of Sick Benefit Association members decided that all bargaining with management should be done by an association that was comprised exclusively of non-management employees. In early 1978, the department's four captains, eight lieutenants, 100 firefighters and two mainteanence personnel organized the Hamden Firefighters Association.
When the town stalled contract negotiations in 1979, the members of the Hamden Firefighters Association opted to join the International Association of Fire Fighters, thus becoming the Hamden Professional Firefighters Association, Local 2687 of the I.A.F.F.
With all labor-related matters now being negotiated by Local 2687, the Hamden Paid Firemen's Sick Benefit Association reverted to being strictly a benefits organization, offering up to $100 annually to members with hospital expenses exceeding $100, as well as a $500 death benefit.
Membership now being optional, and despite the very low annual dues, the number of Hamden Paid Firemen's Sick Benefit Association members dropped dramatically over the next several years.
(Continued below)
The Hamden Chronicle, Thursday, December 28, 1995
The last regular meeting of the Hamden Paid Firemen's Sick Benefit Association was held on May 12, 1982. In 1987, the Association was officially dissolved as a corporation by the State of Connecticut. In late 1995, those who had been members of the Sick Benefit Association as of 1982, whether they were now active or retired, were invited to a special meeting called to decide the future of the Association. Because of the 1984 resignation of the Sick Benefit Association's last elected president and the 1987 death of vice president Ray Reilly, the role of president fell to the senior trustee, Gil Spencer.
Thanks to some wise investments in the mid-1980s by the Sick Benefit Association's last elected treasurer, Ed Doiron, the Association's assets had increased three-fold by 1995. Various ideas on how to use the assets were discussed, including a scholarship fund. However, a scholarship fund would have required further administration of the organization's assets, which could not happen without re-incorporating and maintaining the Sick Benefit Association. The members finally decided to donate the funds to another non-profit organization.
From the minutes of the November 22, 1995 final meeting of the Hamden Paid Firemen's Sick Benefit Association, "A motion was made by George Reutenauer and seconded by Francis Leddy that the Association liquidate all its assets, pay all outstanding benefits claims, and donate the remaining assets to Hospice of Connecticut, and that the Hamden Paid Firemen's Sick Benefit Association thereby be dissolved." Following further discussion, the motion passed unanimously.
George Reutenauer and Francis "Chalky" Leddy were two of the original members of the Hamden Paid Firemen's Sick Bemefit Association when it was organized in 1948, Leddy being its first secretary. On December 22, 1995 Reutenauer and Leddy were joined by many other fellow members at Station 4 when they presented Hospice of Connecticut with a check for $15,484.50, a fitting Christmas gift and a shining example of the generosity of all past and present members of the Hamden Paid Firemen's Sick Benefit Association.
Posted 12/25/15
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Francis Leddy, known affectionately to his men as "Chalky," and George Reutenauer both joined the Hamden Fire Department in 1946 after serving in the military during WWII. Leddy was promoted to lieutenant in 1956 and captain in 1964. He was named deputy chief in 1970 to command the new Platoon 4 and retired in September 1986. Francis Leddy passed away on February 22, 2002. His son, James, served as Chief of the Department from 2002 until retiring in 2006. Jim Leddy is currently an active member and trustee of the Hamden Fire Retirees Association.
George Reutenauer was promoted to lieutenant in 1961. In 1966 he replaced Everett Doherty as deputy chief of old Platoon 2. When the 42-hour workweek was established in 1970, he commanded Platoon 3 until his retirement in 1984. George Reutenauer passed away on June 20, 2005.
Firefighters Attempt to Save Ralston Avenue Home on a Brutally Cold Christmas Day
The last time Hamden firefighters had fought a major blaze on a Christmas Day was sixteen years earlier, when Reilly's Restaurant was gutted. That day in 1964 the temperatures were about 75 degrees warmer than the sub-zero Christmas Day of 1980, when fire gutted the Ralston Avenue home of a noted Hamden High School languages teacher and his wife. See the photos and article below.
Hamden Chronicle, December 31, 1980 (Courtesy of Chan Brainard)
Christmas Day 1980
Platoon 1 Engine 3 Firefighter Frank Kafka is pictured above helping to return a ground ladder to Truck 2 following the fire. The heavily damaged Ralston Avenue house was the home of retired Hamden High School languages teacher Clarence Grimes and his wife Katherine.
Right after returning home from his night shift at 5's, a firefighter took this photo showing 8 below zero about an hour before the fire.
From The Hamden Chronicle, Wednesday, December 31, 1980 (Courtesy of Gil Spencer)
*Public records confirm the spelling of Mrs. Grimes' name as "Katherine."
Old films about firefighters are always interesting to watch. Older firefighting tactics and procedures are often starkly different from those employed in today's departments, but sometimes they are very much the same, notwithstanding the many decades between.
In many ways the challenges facing the firefighters of yesterday are no different than those faced by today's firefighters.
This 1962 David Wolper documentary, "The Story of a Fireman," focuses on the experiences of a Los Angeles firefighter who strives for promotion to captain, the first level of supervision in the LAFD, and the many new responsibilities he must shoulder as a company officer.
Any firefighter, especially a new fire officer, will be able to identify with this fellow. The captain's leadership and his new responsibilities are eventually tested by a nasty house fire. Interesting stuff!
Even though a few of the more than fifty-year old procedures in this film are now quite out of date, this film is very interesting to watch.
Note the wages earned by LA firefighters in 1962 for a 62-hour workweek. (Believe it or not, the hourly wage for a Hamden firefighter in 1962 was even less.)
More of these videos will be featured here in the weeks to come. Enjoy!
The location of last week's photo of a horse-drawn water tower was originally thought to be San Francisco, but not so. Website contributor HFD Lt. Daryl Osiecki emailed the website last weekend to report that the ancient photo of the horse-drawn water tower was "from Washington DC and was assigned as Truck C. Truck C later became Truck 3. They currently operate the only Tower Ladder in the DCFD. Everything else is a tractor-drawn aerial. The photo was taken as the truck responded down F Street near the intersection of 13th St SW." Lt. Osiecki also provided a contemporary online image showing two of the same buildings seen in the older photo. Nice job!
