March 5 - The kids at Shepherd Glen elementary school got quite a show Friday afternoon just before school got out. The blaze in this pick-up truck parked out on Skiff Street Ext. was reported at 2:29. Arriving two minutes later, the crew of HFD Squad 1 put out the blaze in seconds (see video). There were no other exposures and no dangers posed to the kids or faculty.
Information on this incident, as well as the photo and video, courtesy of the Hamden Fire Chief's Office.
Hamden police held traffic on Skiff Street Ext. and Howard Drive to assist with public safety. Marshal Tim Dolan is investigating the cause of the fire.
The brief cellphone video at right shows the firefighters' quick actions. The kids at Shepherd Glen paid a price for this impromptu demonstration of firefighting, however. School dismissal was delayed.
We have no newspaper articles, photos or video about the transition, but 30 years ago this week Communications Bulletin No. 170 reported that all of the 2-1/2" supply line was removed from Engine 1 and 800' of brand new 5" LDH packed in its place. The following week, Engine 3 (900'), Engine 4 (1,000') and Engine 9 (1,000') were also loaded with new lengths LDH.
Engines 2 and 6 kept split beds of 2-1/2" and 3" supply lines until late October 1986, at which time the 2-1/2" was removed from each engine and 1,000' of new LDH packed in its place.
Ff. Larry DeBurra begins to read the classic Dr. Seuss book “Green Eggs and Ham”, while Lt. Mike Dowling looks on.
Read Across America
[The website thanks Dep. Chief Gary Merwede for providing the following text and photos of our department members as they participated in the Read Across America observance in Hamden public schools.]
On Wednesday March 2, 2016 the Hamden Fire Department participated in the “Read Across America” program at Church Street Elementary School.
The personnel assigned to Hamden Fire Department's Engine 2 on Circular Avenue joined with other community volunteers, including members of the Hamden Police Department, members of the United Way, and Hamden Mayor Curt Balzano Leng, in classrooms to read books with Church Street School students.
This was a great opportunity to instill the importance of reading, while having fun and interacting with the staff and students.
For more information on how to participate and volunteer, contact your local United Way office.
Members of HFD Engine 2, Hamden Mayor Curt Balzano Leng,
staff and other community volunteers are pictured together following the event.
Hamden never had a subscription fire department, wherein citizens paid a private fire brigade for fire protection. The protected building owners were then issued fire marks to be conspicuously displayed on their buildings so firefighters would know what buildings were covered in the event of fire.
In 1976, Hamden Firefighter Ed Doiron saw an assortment of reproduction fire marks in an East Haven shop. Although East Haven never had a subscription fire department, either, the repro fire marks in the shop were labeled "EAST HAVEN" Ed asked the owner if fire marks with "HAMDEN" could be ordered. The shop owner contacted the guy who forged the East Haven markers, who told Ed if twenty-five or more of the fire marks were ordered he would only charge Ed ten bucks each. Ed immediately ordered twenty-five "HAMDEN" fire marks, selling them to fellow firefighters at cost - five bucks more it they were painted black and detailed in red and gold paint.
When the fire marks sold out the first week, twenty-five more were ordered. They also sold out immediately. Ed doesn't recall if there was a third order, but lots of these "HAMDEN" fire marks should still be around forty years later.
The HFRA website got some ink this week in an article by freelance writer Gail Donahue, who contributes a wellness column for the Hamden-North Haven Post-Chronicle. Ms. Donahue's article spotlights efforts to preserve and promote local history by the "Journey Club," a group of older Hamden residents who meet monthly at Miller Library to share photos, stories and remembrances of growing up in Hamden.
Ms. Donahue's article also focused on efforts of the HFRA website to not only showcase the remarkable history of the Hamden Fire Department, but to also encourage its visitors to understand the importance of remembering Hamden landmarks, and how and why they have changed (or have disappeared) over the years. Enjoy!
MS. DONAHUE'S ARTICLE (BELOW) MAY BE ENLARGED FOR EASIER READING.
CLICK ON THE IMAGE.
"Journey to the Present," by Gail Donahue, published in the March 2, 2016 edition of the POST-CHRONICLE.
In addition to celebrating the history of the Hamden Fire Department, we occasionally use this space to focus on how Hamden's landscape has changed over the years. Here's a really good one:
Many of us who grew up in Hamden during the middle of the 20th Century will remember when McDonald's appeared on the Dixwell Avenue "island," between Shepard Avenue and Skiff Street in 1957. This 1965 photo of McDonald's iconic "Golden Arches" sign is loaded with many things that are but a distant memory - and some that are not.
Dixwell Avenue in 1965 - McDonald's "Golden Arches" - CLICK to enlarge
What has changed? Compare the 1965 photo with the one below, taken just yesterday from the same vantage point.
Popeye's took over McDonald's former site when the hamburger joint moved up the street to its present Hamden Mart location in 1983. The Hamden Garden Center at the extreme right in the older photo is now a store that specializes in Kitchens.
The Corey Lumber Company, beyond the gas pumps in the older photo, burned down in April 1979 (aha, we knew some sort of HFD connection could be made with this photo).
Also note the double yellow line in the street, which indicates that Dixwell Avenue was two-way in those days, as was Old Dixwell Avenue on the back side of the island.
The same location, March 3, 2016 - CLICK to enlarge
What has NOT changed? Though rebuilt in the 1990s to include a convenience store, the GULF service station is still there,
as are the billboards (background left). Also, the GULF logo appears to be unchanged.
One-half century ago those billboards backed up to the Farmington Canal rail line. Today, the same billboards front a hiking trail converted from the railway right-of-way that supported the Northampton Rail Line from the late-1840s until the mid-1970s.
And what about that 26-cent a gallon price for Gulf gasoline? Was that a bargain when compared to today's price?
According to the U.S. Inflation Calculator website (http://www.usinflationcalculator.com/), today's cash price of $1.79 per gallon at that same Gulf station is a better bargain than it was in 1965. When adjusted for inflation, 26 cents in 1965 would be the equivalent of $1.96 today.
Website is updated every Friday - Important interim updates will be posted when necessary
CLICK to monitor HFD radio
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Margaret "Marty" Barletta
One of four of the first fulltime civilian Hamden fire dispatchers
Chief V. Paul Leddy & Marty - 1981
We are deeply saddened to report the passing earlier this week in Florida of Margaret "Marty" Barletta, beloved wife of retired Hamden Fire Marshal Mark Barletta and mother of HFD Captain Adam Barletta and Robin Faiola, following an illness of 15 months.
Marty was among Hamden's first four civilian fire dispatchers hired under Civil Service after the positions were created in 1980. It was then that she met her future husband, Mark, who was a new Hamden firefighter.
Friends may call next Friday, March 18th, from 5 to 8 p.m. at the Washington Memorial Funeral Home, 4 Washington Avenue in North Haven. Her funeral procession will leave from the funeral home on Saturday at 10:30 a.m. for a Mass of Christian Burial which will be celebrated at 11:00 a.m. in Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Church, 2819 Whitney Ave., Hamden. Burial will be private.
Memorial contributions in Marty's name may be made to HALO Rescue, 710 Jackson St., Sebastian, FL 32958. The thoughts and prayers of the HFRA are with Mark, Adam, Robin and the rest of the Barletta family.
A man whose men have called him a "fireman's fireman" was formally recognized fifty-five years ago this week by the Board of Fire Commissioners for saving the life of a one-year old West Haven boy. The child became unresponsive two months earlier while traveling with his parents in Hamden. They stopped at Station 2 for assistance. Firefighter Joseph McDermott performed mouth-to-mouth resusciation on the child, who was revived.
New Haven Register, March 13, 1961 (Articles courtesy of Chan Brainard and Gil Spencer)
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McDermott in 1988
Joe McDermott joined the Hamden Fire Department in 1953. Ten years later he was among three firefighters to receive a promotion to lieutenant when a second position of lieutenant was added to each platoon. Joe was promoted to captain when the 42-hour workweek was adopted in 1970. Following the 1973 retirement of Deputy Chief (B/C) James Strain, Joe was promoted to deputy chief to fill Strain's slot as commander of Platoon 2.
Very well-liked and well-respected by the officers and firefighters he led through the years, Deputy Chief Joe McDermott retired in September 1991 after 38 years of service. He currently lives in Branford with his wife, Helen, and has been an active member of the HFRA since it was organized.
New Haven Register, Saturday, March 11, 1961 (Brainard collection)
The first of many cars assigned to the platoon commanders arrived fifty-five years ago this week in the form of one brand new 1961 Ford four-door sedan, purchased for $1,788.00, from Bradford Ford on Dixwell Avenue.
The 1961 Ford would be succeeded by a white 1966 Ford Wagon (see below), a red 1970 Ford Wagon, a red 1974 Malibu Wagon, 1977 Plymouth wagon, 1982 Ford Wagon, 1987 GMC Jimmy, and many, many more.
Dep. Chief Everett Doherty, pictured in the 1961 photo above, poses with Hamden's newest Car 30, a 1966 Ford station wagon. This would be Chief Doherty's last Car 30. He retired the following August after nearly 39 years of service. Eighteen years later another platoon commader's car would be the assigned vehicle of Doherty's son, Tom.
The Hamden Chronicle, Thursday, March 10, 1966 (Brainard collection)
Those Radio Designations
All fire department vehicles had radio designations ranging between numbers 30 and 59. "Car 30" was the radio designation of the car assigned to the platoon commanders. The chief's vehicle was "Car 40." This was the result of the police, fire and public works departments originally sharing a single radio frequency many years earlier when police department vehicles had numbers 1 through 29; the public works had numbers 60 and over.
By the early 1980s and the switch to Central Communications, Chief Leddy accepted the recommendation that fire department cars receive more appropriate designations. Car 40 became Car 1. Car 2 was left open in anticipation of the creation of the Asst. Chief's position. Car 30 became Car 3. Car 51, the training officer, became Car 4. Car 41, the fire marshal, became Car 5. Car 6 was left open for the anticipated creation of an assistant marshal.
Cars 7, 8 and 9 were assigned to the Superintendent, Asst. Supt. and what had been Car 53, the bucket truck. But when the new radio designation numbers were being doled out, Supt. Richie Lostritto said he didn't want to be assigned "Car 7." An avid Red Sox fan, Richie wanted Ted Williams' number which, of course, was 9. He got it! His assistant, Paul Wetmore, Sr., got Car 7 instead, a radio designation he kept when he became Superintendent in 1986.
Early Dunbar Hill Photo Found in Cache of Family Photos
March 18 - Robin Corey Keohane attended yesterday afternoon's monthly meeting of "Journey" at Miller Library's Senior Center armed with dozens of Hamden photos that were of great interest to everyone there. Among Robin's many family photos was this c. 1930 photo of active members of the Dunbar Hill Volunteer Fire Association outside their quarters on Dunbar Hill Road.
Robin, a delightful lady whose grandfather, Norman Corey, owned the lumber company on Dixwell near Shepard, was enthusiastic about having her photos scanned for the Hamden Historical Society and the HFRA archives. She hopes to find more like it in her collection of family photos. We are very grateful for this image and hoping, along with Robin, for a photo of Co. 8's elusive 1910 Locomobile chemical truck, for which no image is yet known to exist.
(Photo courtesy of Robin Corey Keohane)
Co. 8's 1918 Stewart in 1939
This group includes brothers Nelson and Everett Warner (in helmets, second and fourth from left), who were charter members of the Dunbar Hill Volunteer Fire Company, formed in 1926.
Nelson Warner was Dunbar Hill's first vice-president and would eventually serve as president. Younger brother Everett was the fire company's first captain. The first president of the company, William Hindinger, was great-grandfather of Co. 8's present captain, George Hindinger.
The Dunbar Hill Fire Company is still active today. Their first motorized apparatus was a 1910 Locomobile chemical truck acquired from Whitneyville in 1928. In 1930, they inherited Mt. Carmel's 1918 Stewart chemical truck.
From detailing on the spoked wheels hidden behind the firefighters, it appears that the Dunbar Hill crew is standing in front of the 1918 Stewart chemical truck.
That's Lt. Carl Backus (HFD Ret.) on the left in the light blue shirt, who was on scene with AMR.
The Hamden Fire Department was notified of an accident involving a First Student school bus that had crashed into a tree at 0811 hrs. last Wednesday morning on Brook Street, just south of the Wintergreen Avenue intersection.
The first due Hamden fire apparatus arrived at 0814 hrs. It was immediately determined that no students were on the bus and that the bus driver was heavily entrapped from the impact. A full extrication assignment was dispatched to the scene.
Extrication and ALS care were initiated immediately by Engine 2 and Rescue 2. HFD Incident command activated the Yale New Haven Hospital SHARPS medical team for rapid on scene intervention if necessary.
Extrication took approximately 28 minutes and included freeing the patient from entrapment and creating an opening to move the patient to the waiting stretcher. The patient was transported to YNHH by AMR.
The accident remains under investigation by the Hamden Police Department.
Posted 3/18/16
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[The Website thanks the Fire Chief's Office and Dep. Chief Gary Merwede for providing the information and photo of this incident.]
Website thanks go out to to Ed Doiron, Jr. once again, who recently dug up some old negatives of his dad's. This photo of Sam Jones was taken around 1968 when Ed Sr. worked at old 3's. Sam worked on Lieut. Ken Harrington's crew on Platoon 3. Note the water bucket. Looks like Sam was snapped at the same time Walt Macdowall was washing his pickup truck (see February 26th update). Great photo of Sam!
Sam Jones was appointed to the department in May 1961, the department's first African-American career firefighter. With the introduction of the 42-hour workweek Sam was assigned to Platoon 4, and for many years was a driver of Truck 1, until his 1990 retirement. Sam passed away last October 29th, just a few days shy of his 90th birthday.
A Co. 5 Volunteer Arrives First (Photo by John Mongillo, Jr.) - CLICK to enlarge
Engine 5 arrives and an interior attack begins (Photo by John Mongillo, Jr.)
From the New Haven Register, March 25, 1966:
The caption under the photo at left read, "A Mt. Carmel Company fireman was the first to arrive at the scene of the blaze [on] Bolton St. Thursday afternoon. Though the blaze was intense enough to melt a storm door on the porch and metal sheathing on the house, fieremen brought it under control within 15 minutes."
HAMDEN - Damage of several thousand dollars to a Bolton Street home Thursday afternoon was apparently caused by some teenagers playing with rocket fuel. Extensive damage occurred to the rear porch and roof and lesser damage to the living room at [the] Bolton St. residence. Engines 4 and 5 from Mt. Carmel and Centerville and Ladder and Rescue 2 responded under the commands of Fire Chief V. Paul Leddy and Deputy Chiefs James Strain and Daniel Hume. Police included Deputy Chief Hugh Mulhern and Patrolmen John Collake and William Earley. The flame melted an aluminum storm door inside the porch at an entrance to the living room. It spread to the roof of [the] house and climbed to the peak by a side chimney. Aluminum sheathing on the roof melted from the heat. Fire Marshal Albert Purce is continuing the investigation. Preliminary investigation reports indicate that the three boys were playing with some rocket fuel and a small propane tank. [One of them] attempted to put out the fire with an extinguisher but it did not operate. Firemen put the roaring blaze out within 15 minutes of their arrival.
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About Bolton Street
Bolton Street is among a few Hamden streets that have been cut short, reconfigured, or have disappeared altogether. It ran west off #2902 Whitney Avenue in Mt. Carmel, up a steep hill to just beyond Villa Road. The portion of Bolton Street between Whitney and Villa was eliminated when the Rt. 40 Connector was built in the mid-1970s. Several houses on the street were either razed or moved. Ironically, the house that caught fire in 1966 is one of two original Bolton Street houses still standing today.
What's left of Bolton Street today is accessible only from the end of Villa Road, off Dickerman Street. The street was extended west and south to a cul-de-sac after 1990, and there are more houses on Bolton Street today than before the Connector.
Originally posted 10/2/10
(For more about other Hamden streets that have changed or disappeared over the years,
At 11:09 a.m. last Tuesday, March 22nd, the Hamden Fire Department was dispatched to the intersection of Whitney Avenue and Waite Street for a reported motor vehicle accident with a car into the front of a house. The first arriving company (11:12) reported one vehicle in the intersection and a second vehicle into the residence at 1548 Whitney Avenue, on the west side just north of Waite.
Each vehicle had a single occupant and minor injuries were reported. The HFD initiated medical care on scene and the patients were both transported to YNHH via AMR. No extrication was required. Two residents of 1548 Whitney Avenue were home at the time of the accident and both were uninjured. The home sustained heavy exterior damage including the collapse of the front porch.
Hamden's Building Inspector was called to the scene to examine the structural integrity of the home. It was determined that the residents would not have to leave their home during repairs. The Hamden Police Department is investigating the cause of this accident.
Posted 3/18/16
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[The Website thanks the Fire Chief's Office and Dep. Chief Gary Merwede for providing the information and photo of this incident.]
Hamden purchased its first motorized ladder truck and a "matching" 500 g.p.m. rotary gear pumper ninety years ago this week from the Maxim Motor Company of Middleboro, Massachusetts. Both units were assigned to the Highwood station at Dixwell Avenue and Morse Street.
The pumper replaced Highwood's 1918 Stewart chemical truck, which was handed down to the Mix District Volunteer Fire Co. No. 7. The ladder truck replaced Highwood's hand-drawn ladder truck that was built by the company during the winter of 1907-08.
MAY 1939 - 1926 Maxim City Service Ladder and 1926 Maxim 500 GPM pumper (Copy of original photo courtesy of Chan Brainard)
Hook & Ladder Co. 1 (Highwood) - 1926 Maxim City Service Ladder Truck. Weight: 10,100 lbs. Purchased March 23, 1926. Windshield installed February 15, 1938.
Engine 1 (Highwood) - 1926 Maxim 500 GPM rotary gear pumper. Purchased March 23, 1926. Purchase price for both apparatus was $12,500.
From personal notes of Chief Charles Loller (courtesy of his great grandson, Russell Loller)
. . . and then 75 Years Ago!
When new in 1926
On March 19, 1941 at 4:31 p.m., Hamden's 1926 Maxim city service ladder truck was struck by a Connecticut Company trolley car at the corner of Dixwell and Mather. Driver David F. Howe was responding with Engines 4 and 5 and the Squad to a reported oil burner fire at 2316 Dixwell Avenue. There were no other riders. Miraculously, Howe was uninjured.
The truck was deemed unsalvageable and was traded in for a brand new 1941 Diamond-T city service ladder truck from the Woods Engineering Co. in Topsfield, Massachuetts. The new truck was delivered in February of the following year.
Originally posted March 19, 2011
Ladder truck on its side on Dixwell, just north of Mather Street. (Photo courtesy of Local 2687)
Back on all fours, the truck's damage is more evident. But was it really totaled? (Photo courtesy of Local 2687)
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Then and Now
March 1941
March 2016
Hamden has changed enormously in 75 years, but those Dixwell Avenue houses in the background in the photo at left are still here and, except for new paint and some minor structural tweaks, they look very much the same today as in 1941.
New Photos Show Extent of Interior Damage to School Bus
Amazing the Driver Survived
HFD Lieut. Daryl Osiecki sent these interior shots of the school bus involved in last week's accident on Brook Street near Wintergreen Avenue. This photo was taken after the driver, the lone occupant, was removed from the bus in an extrication that took approximately 28 minutes.
Lt. Carl Backus (HFD Ret.) was the AMR medic at last week's school bus crash on Brook Street.
CLICK to enlarge
Note the position of the Hurst tool and the very small space between the driver's seat and the steering wheel and dashboard. The driver struck a set of trees following what may have been a medical emergency.
Rotary's Irfan Ahmed and Firework's Chmn. Karl Olson - (CLICK on the photo to visit the HVFF website)
Rotary's Irfan Ahmed and CERT's Bob Freeman - (CLICK on the photo to visit the Hamden CERT website)
This week the Hamden Rotary Club presented checks to two organizations that are close to the Hamden Fire Department. The Hamden Volunteer Firefighters Fireworks Committee received $750 to help finance this year's annual Fourth of July fireworks display, scheduled for Friday, July 1st. Hamden's Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) received a $500 check that will be going toward the purchase a new radio system for the group.
