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| JUNE 2022
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Important updates will be posted immediately.
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Last update: Tuesday, June 21, 2022 - 1815 hrs
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Firefighter Raymond Dobbs
(1946 - 2022)
We are deeply saddened to report the passing yesterday of HFRA and HGSRA member, retired Firefighter Raymond Dobbs, 75, beloved husband of 44 years of Niki Batter Dobbs of North Haven, after a brief illness.
Ray was born in New Haven Nov. 11, 1946 a son of the late Herman and Helen Kowalski Dobbs and had resided in Hamden before moving to North Haven. He proudly served as a Sergeant in the US Air Force from 1967-1971 and he was a firefighter with the Hamden Fire Department for 32 years prior to his retirement. He also worked for Beecher & Bennett Funeral Home for 10 years and was named the "Best Dressed". Together with Niki they enjoyed going to Florida every winter and also R.I. and several cruises.
He was predeceased by an infant son Daniel Raymond Dobbs. Survivors include nieces Janet Tragianese, Heather Munro, Sally Slade and Jennifer Slade, great nephew Michael Hugo, best friends Debbie and Dave Tremont, and canine companion Maggie. Special thanks to Joan Sotere for her loving care. Ray was predeceased by a sister Sandra Dobbs and a brother Harry Dobbs.
Funeral service will be held on Thursday June 23, at 10:00 am at BEECHER & BENNETT, 2300 Whitney Ave. Hamden. Friends may visit with his family from 9:00- 10:00 am. Interment with Military Honors in Beaverdale Memorial Park.
Memorial contributions may be sent to the Wounded Warrior Project, P.O. Box 758516 Topeka Kansas, 66675-8516, www.wwp.org, or to St. Jude's Children's Hospital 262 Danny Thomas Place, Memphis TN, 38105, www.stjude.org.
Please keep Niki and the rest of Ray's family in your thoughts and prayers at this sad time.
Revised 6/22/2022 - 1531
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| 13th Anniversary!
June 17, 2022 - The week marks the 13th anniversary of the Hamden Fire Retirees' Association's website. Thanks to the generous contributions of photos and stories from dozens of HFD retirees and other fans of the website, we have published hundreds of photographs and scores of articles about past and present members of the Hamden Fire Department.
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We started by posting occasional updates featuring major Hamden fires and group photos of our colleagues from the past. Starting April 1, 2011 the website was updated weekly each Friday, a practice that lasted over eight years, until we went with the present monthly blog that was updated occasionally just like when we started.
After 13 years, your webmeister is hanging it up. As I near my 3/4 century mark, I want to devote more of what free time I have to other important priorities, my family being the most important.
Moving forward, this website now will be more of an archive than an active blog. But it will be updated as necessary with current department events still being covered just like before - and, of course, anniversaries of major department activities will always be featured. As new photos are unearthed they will be shared here.
Starting in July, my plan is to rework the site over the summer in order to make it easier to locate stories and photos from over 800 pages of past entries. Your suggestions, as always, are welcome.
I want to thank the active and retired members of the Hamden Fire Department for their support throughout these thirteen years, with a special tip of the hat to Chiefs David Berardesca and Gary Merwede for their enthusiastic assistance along the way. I also want to express my sincere thanks to those many other "non-fire service" fans of the website who have remained loyal readers.
It's been a great ride, and it will continue. Only it will be a little different.
Take care, everyone - and, as always, be safe!
Dave Johnson
June 17, 2022
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| First Home Page - June 16, 2009 - CLICK ON THE IMAGE TO VIEW THE ENTIRE PAGE |
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Two veteran firefighters sworn in as company officers
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Until he moved to Florida a number of years ago, our former association president and retired fire marshal Mark Barletta gave talks to civic groups on the history of Old Glory. In addition to flying the flag each day, one long standing tradition of his is flying the particular flag design of the era being commemorated. Mark flies a 13-star Betsy Ross flag on Flag Day, the 15-stars & stripes flag on the anniversary of the Star-Spangled Banner, the 36-star flag for the end of the Civil War, and so on. Name the historic event, and Mark will likely have the "current" flag for that era.
Several major 20th century anniversaries call for the 48-star flag, the current flag design from July 4, 1912 to July 3, 1959, to be flown on December 7th, the anniversaries of VE and VJ Day and, of course, D-Day. Each of the 26 different star configurations that preceded our current 50-star flag is considered an official U.S. flag and may be flown as such.
Posted 6/7/2022
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Heavy rain fell steadily from Friday night into Saturday morning, June 5, 1982, continuing all day and through the following night.
By mid-morning on Saturday, water was collecting under the railroad bridge on Putnam Avenue.
By early afternoon, calls for assistance were being prioritized at Central by the number of feet of water in basements.
By mid-afternoon the Emergency Operations Center was opened by Mayor Peter Villano.
By evening, Dixwell Avenue at Central was covered in several feet of water.
By the next day, the Flood of '82 was a major disaster.
CLICK on the photo below for the whole story.
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| Leland Robinson Photo, courtesy of the Hamden Historical Society |
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Memorial Day 2022
A picture-perfect day to honor the fallen
On a perfect weather day, the Hamden Fire Department, including a half-dozen retirees in their dress blues, once again turned out a strong marching contingent for Memorial Day, which this year fell on the traditional May 30th day of observance. The parade route was somewhat truncated for this first parade in three years, ending at the middle school veteran's memorial instead of a few tenths of a mile further up at Dixwell and Old Dixwell.
Apparatus included Car 3, Rescue 1, Squad 1, Engine 2, Engine 3, Engine 7, Engine 8, Brush 8 and the Tower. Hamden's nearly 50-year old Maxim Telesqurt, driven by Co. 5 Captain Mark Guarino, also made an appearance toward the end of the parade. Guarino purchased the truck earlier this year and plans to restore it.
The COVID-19 pandemic cancelled the parade last year and the year before, but an even longer hiatus between parades occurred when bad weather cancelled the 1982, 1983, and 1984 parades.
All photos by Anna Johnson. Each photo may be enlarged with just a click on the image.
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| Color Guard (L-R): Lt. Brian Gagnon, Ff. Paul Anderson, Lt. Pete Lynch, Capt. Mike Dowling, Ff. Dave Beaton, and Ff. Kevin Shields |
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| Chief Gary Merwede and Asst. Chief Jeff Naples led the marching unit from the high school to the middle school |
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| Engine 2 |
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| Engine 3 |
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| Tower 1 |
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| Engine 7 |
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| Engine 8 |
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| Brush 8 |
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And for old times sake: Now privately owned, these two former Hamden pumpers brought up the rear of the parade.
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| Engine 15 - 1973 Maxim 1,000 GPM “TELESQURT" - Vol 5 "Parade Piece" |
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| 1978 Pierce/Ford Mini-Pumper |
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Superintendent Richard "Richie" Lostritto
(1926 - 2022)
REMEMBERING RICHIE
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HFD Communications Bulletin No. 14, issued on June 1, 1982, was pretty mundane. It preceded a tumultuous weekend for Hamden, which you can read about NEXT week when Bulletin No. 15 is shown.
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| West Woods Volunteer Fire Co. No. 9's "parade piece," a 1929 Seagrave tillered aerial ladder truck. |
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Website thanks to Joe Confrancesco of North Haven, who recently donated this 8x10 glossy of Co. 9's pride and joy, their 1929 Seagrave 75' aerial ladder truck that started its fire service career at Wellesley, Massachuetts.
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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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