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JANUARY 2021
Important updates will be posted immediately.
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| CLICK to monitor HFD radio |
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for official COVID-19 notifications
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For the duration of the COVID emergency all password protected pages, except Members Only pages, are open to all website visitors.
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| Courtesy of Chief Gary Merwede on Twitter - CLICK TO ENLARGE |
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Thursday, Jan. 28 - Crew of Hamden's Squad One attacked this nasty car fire late this morning near Exit 60 in the northbound land of Route 15. CLICK HERE for advisory and brief video.
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| Firefighter Sam Jones - 1982 |
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EMS Scholarship to be named for Firefighter Sam Jones
During the week when the nation celebrated the 92nd birthday of Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., Chief Gary Merwede presented Hamden's Legislative Council with a budget amendment to advance the department's first diversity initiative, a scholarship for a Hamden High School graduating senior of color to attend the Yale New Haven Hospital Center for EMS (YNHHCEMS), with a goal of state certification. The scholarship is named to honor the memory of Hamden's first career firefighter of color, Samuel A. Jones.
In a January 8th memo to Finance Director Curtis Eatman, the Chief wrote, "Inasmuch as Emergency Medical Technician (EMT) certification has remained a basic requirement for application to the Hamden Fire Department for more than 30 years, and in recognition that nationally more than 80% of EMTs and Paramedics are non-minorities, and in an effort to promote the opportunity of career choices in first responder emergency medicine and the career fire service, the HFD Sam Jones Scholarship was created."
The selection of the scholarship recipient is entirely under the care and control of Hamden Public Schools, specifically the Counseling & Career Pathways Department.
Chief Merwede's memorandum requested a budget amendment increasing the Paramedic EMS Revenue line by $1,500 and the Training expenditure line by the same amount. A position in the July class has already been reserved and the cost of tuition ($1,500) would be paid directly to the YNHHCEMS directly.
CLICK HERE to read Emily DeSalvo's online article in The New Haven Independent.
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As far back as the 1896 formation of Hamden’s first fire volunteer fire company in Highwood, volunteer firefighters of African-American descent had served the Hamden community. However, it was not until the early 1960s that an African American was first appointed to serve as a career member of the department.
Samuel Augustus Jones was born in Beaufort, North Carolina on November 4, 1925. A graduate of Knoxville College, he came to Hamden in 1957 to work at the Seamless Rubber Company. He also owned and operated a successful floor refinishing company. In late 1960, Sam applied to become a member of the Hamden Fire Department. On May 8, 1961, the three-man Hamden Board of Fire Commissioners unanimously appointed him as Hamden’s first African-American career Hamden firefighter.
Throughout his entire career with the department, Sam Jones proved to be an outstanding firefighter, a hard worker, and a good friend to his colleagues. One of Sam’s passions was the game of chess, at which he was a formidable opponent to anyone who dared to play him.
After nearly 30 years of service in the Hamden Fire Department, Sam Jones retired on November 30, 1990. Shortly thereafter, he and his wife Elaine moved to Knoxville, Tennessee. Sam passed away there in October 2015, just six days shy of his 90th birthday. He was survived by his wife Elaine and his son, Kenneth, a career firefighter in East Point, Georgia. Sam was predeceased in 1974 by his first wife, the former Penelope Smart.
CLICK HERE - "Sam Jones was a Pioneer," posted May 22, 2011.
Posted 1/21/2021
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January 17, 2021 - The Hamden Fire Department was dispatched at 2:56 this morning to a kitchen fire at 101 Kaye Vue Drive, a four-story apartment building. Engine 2 arrived on-scene at 3:03 to smoke coming out of a door way. The crew advanced a hose line and was able to extinguish a stove top fire. Fire damage was contained to the kitchen area with smoke damage throughout the apartment. The fire crews checked for extension and ventilated the unit.
The fire started in a cooking pot with oil in it. The resident had stepped out of the kitchen for a minute and the smoke detector activated alerting the other family members. The mother awoke and found that the oil had boiled over and ignited. She attempted to apply water to it which led to further fire spread.
Three family members were relocated with the assistance of the Red Cross. Unfortunately a family cat died as a result of the fire.
Two Firefighters received minor injuries and were treated at the scene. New Haven, North Haven and Cheshire Fire Departments provided station coverage for Hamden.
The Hamden Fire Department advises that residents stay in the kitchen while they are frying, boiling, grilling, or broiling food. If you leave the kitchen for even a short period of time, turn off the stove. If you have a small (grease) cooking fire and decide to fight the fire on the stovetop, smother the flames by sliding a lid over the pan and turning off the burner. Leave the pan covered until it is completely cooled. If you cannot safely extinguish the fire call 911 and exit the home immediately.
The website thanks Dep. Fire Marshal Nelson Hwang for this article.
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| 101 Kaye Vue Drive - Satellite view from Google - CLICK to enlarge |
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| 1st Selectman Herbert Hume |
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| January 16, 1956
24 Norris Street
Garage Fire
Hamden First Selectman Herbert Hume turned in the alarm by pulling Box 125 at Norris and Whitney. Quick-thinking owner saved his brand new 1955 auto from flames (maybe it was a Chevy).
Mr. Hume served as a Hamden fire commissioner from 1941 until he was elected First Selectman in November 1955. His brother, Dep. Chief Daniel Hume, was Hamden's first fulltime fire training officer, from 1956 until he retired in 1974.
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| Norris and Whitney (CLICK here) |
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The First Selectman was Hamden's chief executive until the Mayor-Council form of town government was adopted January 1, 1966. Mr. Hume served until the last day of 1957, when First Selectman John DeNicola, Sr. took office. DeNicola would served three terms as First Selectman and one term as Hamden's first mayor.
Originally posted 1/16/15
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| New Haven Register article and original news photos courtesy of Sid Trower's family and Chief Gary Merwede |
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CLICK HERE - Governor Lamont announced next phase of COVID-19 vaccinations - for people 75 and older.
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CLICK HERE to read Meghan Friedmann's article in The New Haven Register about the lawsuit filed
against the Town of Hamden recently by Hamden municipal retirees regarding their pension reductions.
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We are revisiting the posts below from fve years ago this week - Enjoy!
Eighty years ago this week two massive blazes destroyed two area school buildings, and a third fire seriously damaged another - all within five days.
The day after a two-alarm fire forced 250 grammar school kids from New Haven's Hamilton Street School, the Hamden Fire Department and several other surrounding departments responded mutual aid to Cheshire, when it became apparent that a fire in Cheshire Academy's Horton Hall was well beyond the capabilities of any one fire department.
Three days later, Hamden firefighters had their own hands full when the Old Peck School on Hillfield Road lit up the night sky in West Woods.
What apparatus were in Hamden's firefighting arsenal that week? We have the answer.
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80 Years Ago
A Tough Week for Three Area School Buildings
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Wednesday, January 8, 1941
Hamden Responds to Massive Cheshire Academy Fire
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| The New Haven Evening Register, Thursday, January 9, 1941 |
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When the fire was reported about 9 PM, firefighters thought they would be able to handle the volume of fire. But shortly after Cheshire firefighters arrived on the scene strong winds began pushing the fire through the building, resulting in the need for additional fire companies from out of town.
When mutual aid was requested by Cheshire Fire Chief Richard Williams, Hamden sent Engine 5 from Mt. Carmel, the 1930 Maxim 600 GPM, and the 1938 Diamond-T Emergency Squad out of Headquarters in Centerville. Apparatus also responded from the neighboring departments of Meriden, Waterbury and Wallingford. Southington sent additional firefighters.
In a vain attempt to bolster minimal water supply, fire officials ordered shutting off water service to private homes.
Valuable paintings being displayed in the fire building were saved through the efforts of firefighters and other town residents. Sadly, many other irreplacable items were destroyed, including school records dating back to 1796 and a collection of valuable antiques on loan from a private party. The building was eventually razed.
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| The New Haven Evening Register, Thursday, January 9, 1941 (From the collection of the late G. Donald Steele) |
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4 Days Later
Sunday, January 12, 1941
Midnight Fire Guts the "Old Peck School" on Hillfield Road
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| (Photo courtesy of Local 2687) |
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The Hillfield School, referred to by locals as the "Old Peck School," was a private girls' school that opened in 1916, when Miss Florence Peck moved the school from its original location in Wallingford. The building was located atop a hill on the left hand side of Hillfield Road, where Hillfield makes a hard right and Johnson Road goes straight ahead.
On Sunday morning, January 12, 1941, a fire of suspicious origin was discovered shortly after midnight, destroying the building which had been vacant for several years. This was fifteen years before the Westwoods Volunteer Fire Co. was organized, so the nearest fire companies were Companies 5 and 7.
Miss Alice Peck, sister of Florence, also taught at the school. She would later teach at the town's last one-room schoolhouse on the corner of Johnson and Still Hill. That school closed in June 1954 and would later serve as quarters for the Westwoods fire company. In September 1954, a new elementary school was erected on the north side of Hillfield at the corner of Shepard Avenue and was named for Miss Alice Peck.
Originally posted 3/23/12
The headline below should have read "Spectacular Fire Levels West Woods School." This building was not the Mt. Carmel School, which was located on Woodruff Street - and demolished in 1981.
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| New Haven Journal-Courier, Monday, January 13, 1941 (Steele Collection) |
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| New Haven Evening Register, Sunday, January 12, 1941 (Steele Collection) |
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| The "Old Peck School," which stood atop the hill near the corner of Hillfield and Johnson Roads (Photo courtesy of the Hamden Historical Society) |
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| CLICK to enlarge |
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The 1934 aerial photo at left, from the State of Connecticut digital collection, shows the Old Peck School in context with Hillfield and Johnson Roads, seven years before it burned down and long before the building boom of the 1950s. The MapQuest photo at right shows the approximate spot today where the Old Peck School stood. Ironically, it is not a Hillfield Road address, but #100 Johnson Road.
Originally posted 1/10/16
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Hamden Fire Department
Apparatus Inventory in January 1941
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Station 1 – Highwood
Engine 1 – 1926 Maxim 500 g.p.m. pumper
Ladder 1 – 1926 Maxim city service ladder truck
Station 2 – Humphrey
Engine 2 – 1938 Seagrave 600 g.p.m. pumper
Station 3 – Whitneyville
Engine 3 – 1928 Maxim 750 g.p.m. pumper
Station 4 (Headquarters) – Centerville
Engine 4 – 1939 Diamond-T 500 g.p.m. pumper
Squad – 1938 Diamond-T e/w 150 g.p.m. pump
| Station 5 – Mt. CarmelEngine 5 – 1930 Maxim 600 g.p.m. pumper Spare - 1919 Seagrave 750 g.p.m. pumper
Station 6 – Merritt Street
Engine 6 - 1924 Stutz 350 g.p.m. pumper
Station 7 – Mix District
Engine 7 – 1935 Dodge 150 g.p.m. pumper
Station 8 – Dunbar Hill
Engine 8 – 1925 Seagrave 150 g.p.m. pumper
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And it all started in New Haven on
Tuesday, January 7, 1941
155 Hamilton Street - Hamilton St. School
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| New Haven Evening Register, Tuesday, January 7, 1941 (Steele Collection) |
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Six engine companies and three truck companies responded on the two alarms. Effective fire alarm drills ensured that all kids would get out in an orderly and safely manner. Damages to the building amounted to $15,000 in 1941 dollars. The truck in the news photo is red. This was two years before NHFD began painting its apparatus white.
The Hamilton Street School building at #155 was razed more than fifty years ago. It stood north of the New Haven Clock Company building at 133 Hamilton Street, which still stands today. The school was situated on the east side of the street, between the Blue Derby Restaurant at #143 and Vito's Restaurant (no kidding!) at #157.
Posted 1/8/16
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| CLICK TO ENLARGE |
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In the news photo above is NHFD Truck 1, a 1938 Seagrave 85' aerial ladder tiller truck, later painted white. This pre-delivery Seagrave factory photo is from Classic Seagrave 1935-1951 Photo Archive, by Walt McCall & Matt Lee (© 2000 Iconografix Publishing).
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Below: c.1950 - Outside New Haven's old Olive Street fire station, the same 1938 Seagrave Truck 1 that was painted white in late 1941. The Olive Street fire station was razed around 1961 for construction of New Haven's current Grand Avenue Headquarters, which opened in 1962.
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| Photo by I.A. Sneiderman - CLICK TO ENLARGE |
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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 very Happy, Healthy and Safe 2021.
Members of the Hamden Fire Retirees Association, Inc.
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| Thoughts on 2020 - a very tough year for us all . . .
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December 22, 1995
Hamden Paid Firemen's Sick Benefit Association
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."
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| Earliest surviving minutes - Meeting #2 |
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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)
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| The Hamden Chronicle, Thursday, December 28, 1995 |
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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.
Originally 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.
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40 Years Ago
December 25, 1980
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.
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| Hamden Chronicle, December 31, 1980 (Courtesy of Chan Brainard) |
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| Christmas Day 1980 |
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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, your webmeister took this photo showing 8 below zero about an hour before the fire.
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| From The Hamden Chronicle, Wednesday, December 31, 1980 (Courtesy of Gil Spencer) |
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*Public records confirm the spelling of Mrs. Grimes' name as "Katherine."
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Governor Lamont Directs Flags Lowered in Honor of U.S. Capitol Police Officers
(HARTFORD, CT) – Governor Ned Lamont today announced that he is directing U.S. and State of Connecticut flags lowered to half-staff as a mark of respect for the service of U.S. Capitol Police Officers Brian D. Sicknick and Howard Liebengood, whose deaths followed a violent riot at the U.S. Capitol.
Flags should be lowered immediately and remain at half-staff until sunset on Wednesday, January 13, 2021.
CLICK HERE to read the Governor's entire proclamation.
Posted 1/11/2021
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To HFRA regular members:
Your 2021 dues are due
(Disregard if you've already sent it in)
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Except for checks that are mailed in, annual HFRA dues are usually collected in person from members who attend the October and February meetings. However, the COVID-19 pandemic restrictions prevented an in-person October meeting and next month's meeting on February 10th will also have to be another "virtual" Zoom meeting. So . . .
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For your convenience, and to save you the 55-cent postage cost, we are providing this PayPal button for remitting your $15 annual HFRA dues. Your acknowledgement will be a printable 2021 dues card with your name.
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NOTE: Only retired members of the Hamden Fire Department may join and pay dues to the HFRA. Honorary Members and the general public do not pay dues.
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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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