The Hamden Fire Retirees Association has filed a Certificate of Incorporation with the State of Connecticut.
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FRIDAY, AUGUST 17, 2012
Website is updated every Friday - Important interim updates will be posted when necessary
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58 Years Ago Hamden Changed Forever!
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Sears Provides Unique Fire Training Opportunities 40 Years Later
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| Sears Arrived in 1954 - Gone by 1994 |
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| The Hamden Chronicle, August 19, 1954 (Courtesy of the Hamden Historical Society) - CLICK to enlarge. |
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| 40 Years Later - Ready for demolition - SAD! |
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Until the mid-1950s, suburban folks in Connecticut had to go to the big city to patronize a prominent national department store. That all changed at 9 a.m. on Thursday, August 19, 1954, when the Sears Roebuck and Co. department store opened at 2301 Dixwell Avenue.
The new Hamden Sears replaced the New Haven store on lower Church Street and was the first national chain department store to be located in the bedroom community of a major Connecticut city. The Hamden Sears was also the precursor to the Hamden Plaza, the first suburban shopping plaza in Connecticut, which opened the following year.
By the 1959 opening of the Hamden Mart, the stretch of Dixwell Avenue between Skiff Street and the parkway overpass, once dominated by the Peters Farm and apple orchard, would thereafter be known as the "Magic Mile."
Hamden's Sears store lasted just under 40 years, closing on March 13, 1993, the same day the area was hit with a massive snow storm. In the year and a half that followed, the Hamden Fire Department was permitted to use the building for training purposes. We preserved many images from that time.
Posted 8/17/12
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| Saturday, October 8, 1994 - During a multi-company training session, Battalion Chief Tom Doherty and Ff. John Longo of Tower 1 posed on the roof next to one of Hamden's most recognized signs of the previous 40 years. |
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| October 18, 1994 - Only ten days later, the wrecking crew was moving right along. (Johnson photo) |
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CLICK ON THE PHOTO ABOVE FOR MORE.
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| Bill Hines (1950) |
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Bill Hines
Bob Slater wrote to remind us that our own Bill Hines worked part time in the Customer Pick-up Department at the Hamden Sears store when he wasn't working days on the department. Bill's widow, Ernestine, told Bob that she thought he worked there from about 1957 until the late 1960s. Bob was part of Bill's crew when he was a lieutenant at old Station 3 on the 56-hour shift. Bob recalled that Bill knew just about all the part numbers of the various Sears appliances.
Lt. Bill Hines, like almost everyone else on the department, worked a part time job to help make ends meet, when even a lieutenant's annual pay was in the mid-four figures. Did any other Hamden firemen work at Sears?
Posted 8/18/12
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Dolores Fortuna Experienced an Epic Hamden Event in the Sears Building
For a couple of years in the late 1980s, Dolores Fortuna worked in the Sears accounting department, up on the second floor in the front of the building. Dolores is the wife of Tom Fortuna, who, many of us will recall, served as Hamden's 2nd District Councilman for several years in the 1990s.
The Sears building played a significant role in Dolores' memorable "snapshot" moment of an event that was also experienced by tens of thousands of us other Hamdenites one summer afternoon in 1989. Click on her photo for, as Paul Harvey used to say, "the rest of the story."
Posted 8/18/12
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| CLICK for the rest of the story |
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| c. mid-1980s - At an unidentified department event in the Memorial Town Hall auditorium, Fire Commission Chairman Robert LaTorraca, at the podium, is flanked by Assistant Fire Chief Walter T. Macdowall. (Photo courtesy of Jeanine "J-9" Aceto) |
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ALWAYS ENGINE 3
This is a previously unpublished photo of the fairly new 1973 Maxim Telesqurt at Station 3. This pumper underwent an extensive renovation in 1985 and remained in service until the late 1990s.
Like the 1928 Maxim 750 GPM pumper, which served as Engine 3 from 1928 until 1951, the 1973 Telesqurt was always designated as Engine 3, and never assigned to another company.
The 1973 Maxim is presently privately owned and is stored in North Haven. (Photo courtesy of Chan Brainard)
Posted 8/17/12
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November 18, 1961
This roster was printed in the program for 26th Annual Ball, held on November 18, 1961.
This is the earliest roster listing V. Paul Leddy as Chief of the Department. Chief Leddy had been appointed the year before to replace Chief Spencer, and would serve until his retirement in April 1984.
Chief Leddy's former battalion chief's slot was filled by Capt. James Strain, Strain's captain's slot was filled by Lt. Paul Rosadina, and Rosadina's lieutenant's position was filled by Ff. George Reutenauer.
Shortly after his appointment, Chief Leddy requested that the title "Battalion Chief," held by the three shift commanders and the training officer since the rank was created in 1954, be renamed to the more appropriate designation of "Deputy Chief."
In addition to "the Deputy," as we used to call them, each platoon was staffed by one captain, one lieutenant and 18 firefighters. In December 1963, Firefighters Daniel O'Connell, Kenneth Harrington and Joseph McDermott were promoted to fill one new lieutenant's slot that was added to each platoon. (Courtesy of Chan Brainard)
Posted 8/17/12
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| Raymond Reilly - May 1981 |
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| Remembering Capt. Ray Reilly
(1943 - 1987)
Twenty-five years ago this week, we were stunned and saddened by the sudden passing of Capt. Raymond Reilly on August 12, 1987.
Ray joined the department in February 1971, was promoted to lieutenant in June 1981, and captain in October 1984. Ray was the Department's first four-year college graduate with a degree in Fire Science. An original member of the Mountain Rescue Team, Ray was a fine firefighter.
At the time of his passing, Capt. Reilly was assigned to Station 3 on Platoon 3 and was in charge of the department's SCBAs. He was survived by his wife, Suzanne, and sons Tom, Michael and Paul.
Posted 8/10/12
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| June 1978 - Ray doing the Friday thing with the Locke mower at 3s - CLICK to enlarge |
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Like many of his Platoon 3 colleagues, Ray was also a bit of a prankster, as can been seen in this 1978 photo of Guy White cutting his 40th birthday cake at 3s.
While still a firefighter, Ray was half of a duo that installed a strip of lavender "dingle balls" along the top of the rear window of Dep. Chief Harrington's red 1968 Chrysler staff car. Chief Harrington rode around in his low-rider wannabe for two days, oblivious to the unauthorized accessories, until they were discovered and ordered removed by Chief Leddy. Such were the good times we all enjoyed with Ray.
Posted 8/10/12
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| D/C George Reutenauer, Lt. Frank Eitler, Ray, Guy White, Jeff Stoehr and Dan Murphy - CLICK to enlarge |
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| Great late 1960s aerial view of Whitneyville, taken from over the New Haven Country Club. The old footbridge that spanned Lake Whitney had been closed to pedestrian traffic for deacdes. It was removed in the early-1970s. The arrow points to Station 3 on Putnam Avenue, which was still open until September 1970. (From a postcard) |
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| August 10, 2002 - Ten Years Ago Today! - Great previously published website photo taken by Bob Mordecai in front of Walmart, where Ffs. Tim O'Flynn and Augie Williams posed with a happy Walmart employee during that year's annual Local 2687 MDA drive. |
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| CLICK to enlarge |
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November 19, 1960
This roster was printed in the program for the Hamden Paid Firemen's Sick Benefit Association's 25th Annual Firemen's Ball.
November 19, 1960 was actually V. Paul Leddy's first day as Hamden's new fire chief. The program undoubtedly had been printed a while earlier because Raymond C. Spencer was still listed as chief, even though he had actually retired the day before.
Note that the shift commanders were still called "Battalion Chief" - that would change the following year - and there were only two company officers per platoon, one captain and one lieutenant.
Note also that this roster included Mrs. Theodore (Letitia) Flagge, who served as secretary to the Chief and the Marshal until her retirement in 1978. Still going strong at 99, Mrs. Flagge is an Honorary member of the HFRA. (Courtesy of Chan Brainard)
Posted 8/10/12
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| c. 1940 - Firefighter Clem Kammerer at Station 6 with 1924 Stutz 350 gpm pumper (Photo courtesy of Barbara LaReau) |
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| HFRA Website Helps in
One Family's Research
We received the following email in late May:
"My name is Barbara LaReau and I am researching my family history. I stumbled on your website and discovered some wonderful pictures of my great-grandfather, Clement Kammerer, on your website. He died when I was very young so I have no memories of him. Didn't even know he was a fireman until I did a Google search on the internet!"
The Hamden Firefighter pictured at left is Mrs. LaReau's great-grandfather, Clement Kammerer, who joined the Hamden Fire Department on January 29, 1928 and served until his retirement on November 1, 1959.
We were happy to know that the HFRA website was helpful in Barbara LaReau's pursuit of family information and we were also very happy to provide her with more photos of her great-grandfather.
Earlier this past week, Mrs. LaReau kindly provided this wonderful photo of her great-grandfather in front of Merritt Street Station No. 6, with the 1924 Stutz 350 GPM pumper inside. The photo would have been taken sometime before April 1942, when the Stutz was retired.
Firefighter Kammerer worked with several HFRA members who were on the job in the 1950s, including Richie Lostritto, who remembers him fondly. Firefighter Kammerer passed away on June 15, 1973 at the age of 78.
Posted 8/3/12
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1953
Thanks to John O'Hare for providing this scan of an early department personnel roster, which was posted in each station in case off duty personnel had to be called in for a large emergency. Joe McDermott, who joined the department in May 1953, is the least senior member on this roster.
John O'Hare noted that this was the last department roster to be issued before he joined the department in November 1953, replacing Firefighter Thomas (Tim) Cummins. Joe and John both went the distance, retiring in September and October 1991, respectively. Both of them attend meetings of the HFRA.
Note that the platoon commanders were captains. In November of the following year, the Board of Fire Commissioners summarily elevated the three captains to the new rank of battalion chief, and the three lieutenants filled the captain vacancies. The three lieutenant vacancies remained for two more years. In 1956, Firefighters Francis Leddy, Robert O'Donnell and Paul Rosadina were then promoted to fill the three lieutenant vacancies.
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Although this roster is nearly 60 years old, and the telephone numbers were expressed with the old SNET New Haven area exchange names (CHestnut, ATwater, SPruce, etc.), several of the telephone numbers on this roster are still valid for some of the listed personnel or their families. Those numbers have been blacked out.
Posted 8/3/12
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| Here's an interesting photo of Station 3, taken on an early autumn day several decades ago from a plane piloted by Ed Doiron. |
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VOLUNTEERS NEEDED!
You have wisdom to share. We have children who need it. Experience Corps is recruiting people age 55+ to tutor literacy with children in Hamden elementary schools 10+ hours a week during the school year. No teaching or tutoring experience is necessary and training is provided.
Volunteers also participate in fun community events. You must have a high school diploma or GED and be able to pass a background check and literacy screening. Small stipend with tuition help for children or grandchildren available.
For more information, please visit www.experiencecorps.org AARP Experience Corps - Greater New Haven is a program of the Agency on Aging of South Central Connecticut in partnership with United Way of Greater New Haven and Hamden Public Schools. This project is a proud member of the AmeriCorps National Service Network.
NOTE: The HFRA website welcomes the opportunity to advertise worthy programs that help members of our Hamden community.
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| Reilly's Restaurant, Christmas Day 1964 - Looks like Firefighter Milner Benham with an unidentified Mt. Carmel volunteer during overhaul. (Photo by Ed Doiron, Sr.) CLICK to enlarge |
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| Memorial Day 1978 - Great photo of Lt. Walt Macdowall on Rescue 2 giving the photographer a big smile, as the 1978 Memorial Day Parade concluded by the high school. Dep. Chief George Reutenauer (Platoon 3) and future fire chief, Lt. John Tramontano (Platoon 4), can be seen in the background. (Olson photo) |
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Those Department Rosters Help Tell the Story
(The website thanks Lt. Gary Merwede for inspiring this feature, when he posted an old department roster on FB last week.)
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Over the past couple of years, several retirees have donated old department personnel rosters to the archives. The earliest department roster is from 1953, although we do have lists of department members going back as far as the 1920s.
Those old department personnel rosters should be of particular interest to retired and active HFD personnel alike. Who was on the job when? Where were they working at a particular time, and with whom? And in their own unique way, these rosters also help to tell the story of the Hamden Fire Department.
We've identified certain "milestone" rosters that help to illustrate the evolution of the department since the earliest days following its formation in 1925. Different rosters, with commentary and back stories, will be posted here with each Friday update.
Scanned images of old Hamden Fire Department rosters are welcome and would be appreciated (send to hfdbadge102@aol.com). Retirees are encouraged to submit their own comments and recollections, too. (Keep it clean.)
Posted 7/27/12
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| CLICK to enlarge - NOTE: Staff personnel were usually not included on department rosters until later. Not listed on this roster - Chief V. Paul Leddy, Fire Marshal Robert O'Donnell, Dep. Chief Training Officer John Tramontano, Supt. Richard Lostritto and Asst. Supt. Paul Wetmore, Sr. |
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March 5, 1982
Two new firefighters were hired in February 1982, bringing the department up to full manning of 30 men per platoon. Each platoon consisted of one deputy chief, one captain, two lieutenants and 26 firefighters. At 120 line personnel, it would be the last time the department was that large. (NOTE: During the two months leading up to the implementation of the 42-hour work week in 1970, two of the three platoons had 37 personnel and one had 38. After the 42-hour schedule started, each platoon had 28 men.)
Increditbly, about two weeks after these recruit firefighters were hired, the mayor was looking to lay them off as a "cost-saving" measure. The union strenuously objected, pointing out that these men had just been hired. To lay them off would make no sense. The mayor then took aim at the fire department's management positions. In a New York minute the fire marshal and the five deputy chiefs flew to their typewriters and requested that their positions be included in the union. The state agreed, and soon the marshal and five deputies were on the other side of the negotiating table. This left only Chief Leddy in management, and his job was not negotiable. A second management position of Assistant Fire Chief was created in 1983.
Although there were 30 personnel on each platoon, the minimum manning in 1982 was twenty-five per shift. Over the next several years, through normal attrition, the town reduced the ranks of the department's four platoons to the required minimum number of 25. Instead of hiring additional new personnel, for whom they would also pay benefits, the town opted to fill temporary vacancies due to injuries, vacations and illness with off-duty personnel working at straight time.
In the years that followed, the town saved a bundle by eliminating twenty firefighter positions. But they also complained about the straight-time overtime that resulted from those reductions and savings. The next group of new firefighters was not hired until February 1987. Through negotiations, the minimum manning per platoon was reduced to twenty-three in 1993 and eight more firefighter positions were eliminated.
Posted 7/27/12
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One of the more annoying problems for Hamden's firefighters in the 1950s was the old Arch Street "dump," vestiges of which still exist on the south side of Arch Street between Fitch and Pine Rock. In 1951, teenager Chan Brainard snapped this really nice photo of the 1938 Seagrace that was Engine 2.
The "old-timers" to us new old-timers used to tell us about the hours they spent down at the Arch Street Dump putting out fires. A similar annoyance for the 1970-80s era firefighters was the Wintergreen Avenue Dump, er, "Disposal Area" (as we were admonished to call it). Ah, let me count the hours.
Posted 7/27/12
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Watering down the daisies
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July 18, 1998 - On this hot July afternoon fourteen years ago, the crew of Engine 2 on Platoon 3 was asked to provide irrigation to some newly planted local flora near the corner of Dixwell and Putnam Avenues. "Red Ralph" Purificato, working extra that day with Dave, Gary and Joe, handled the chore . . . well . . . quite handily.
Engine 2 was brand new that year and is still in service at Station 2. It is scheduled to be replaced later this year.
Posted 7/27/12
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| July 18, 1998 - Dixwell near Putnam |
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| 1963 - In this photo of Station 4, Milner Benham and Wilbur Baker can be made out (with a magnifying glass). The occasion may have been an open house, possibly in connection with Fire Prevention Week. Rescue 2, the white 1960 International Travel-al, always occupied the south bay. It was replaced in 1971 by a new modular unit on a Ford chassis, which was designated as Rescue 1. (Photo by Gil Spencer) |
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Something for everyone this week, thanks to Chan Brainard!
This week's website update features several previously unpublished photos by Honorary HFRA Member and longtime friend of the Hamden Fire Department, Chandler Brainard. Chan grew up in Hamden and has preserved many department activities through his collection of remarkable photographs taken over the past 60-plus years, many of which are already a part of this website (and many more have yet to be published).
Chan now lives in Signal Hill, Califiornia and is still avidly interested in department activities. He visits the Hamden area every now and then. The next time Chan's in town we'll bring him around to meet the troops.
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| Photo by Chan Brainard |
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c. 1964 - A first glance, it looks like Lt. Joe McDermott is marching alone between two files of Hamden fire apparatus, while Firefighter Howie Hurlburt, Sr. watches from the running board of the 1958 Maxim aerial ladder truck. Actually, the apparatus was staging on Dixwell Avenue near the corner of Scott Street in preparation for Hamden's annual parade of fire apparatus at the start of Fire Prevention Week. Joe was the company officer of Engine 3, the 1954 Maxim right behind him, and he was apparently walking on ahead, perhaps to impart or receive some last minute instructions before heading out with the procession.
Each year on the first Sunday of October, Hamden’s fire apparatus convoyed up Dixwell to Whitney, then north to the Cheshire line. Kids of all ages would line the route to watch Hamden’s engines, rescues and ladder truck pass by.
Joe McDermott joined the department in 1953, made Lieutenant in late 1963, Captain in 1970, and Deputy Chief (now B/C) in 1973. Considered by his men to be a firefighter’s firefighter, Joe retired in 1991 and now lives in Branford with his wife, Helen. He has attended several HFRA meetings.
Posted 7/20/12
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This October 1961 newspaper photo shows Hamden's apparatus ready to roll for the annual Fire Prevention Week apparatus parade. Note the brand new 1961 Ford deputy chiefs' car in the middle. The '56 black Pontiac, driven by Chief V. Paul Leddy, was a holdover from Chief Spencer. It would be replaced in early '62 by a new Rambler sedan. The red and white 1957 Ford was assigned to the Marshal. (Article courtesy of Chan Brainard)
Posted 7/20/12
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| This August 2001 photo by Chan Brainard shows the crew of Tower 1 going through the paces on its first day on. Firefighter John Longo is at the controls with two unidentified firefighters in the bucket. At the time of this photo, this Tower 1 was at the halfway point in its service to Hamden. Costing more than $500K when new in 1991, it was sold last year to an out of state fire department when the new Smeal Tower 1 was placed in service. |
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And now, for something completely different . . .
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For the "sparks" among us: In February 1989, Chan Brainard snapped this photo of a 1920's Seagrave Model K aerial ladder truck with a rear steer feature, on display at the Hall of Flame Museum of fire apparatus in Phoenix, Arizona. Straight-frame tiller trucks were fairly rare due to the fact that coordination between the front and rear drivers was an absolute must. The last ones were manufactured in the early 1930s. New Haven had a couple of these trucks, but a 1937 accident injured several firefighters responding to a call when the tillerman on Truck 4 inadvertently steered the entire rig out of control and it flipped over.
Tractor-trailer tiller aerial trucks, still manufactured, cannot be steered off course by the tillerman, but the direction of a straight-frame rig could be controlled by the operator of either the front or the rear steering wheel.
Posted 7/20/12
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Brock-Hall Dairy, 1204 Whitney Avenue - Then and Now
CLICK to enlarge either photo.
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| July 11, 1978 - Brock-Hall Dairy, 1204 Whitney Avenue |
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| Identical view 34 years later - ALL GONE! |
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The old Brock-Hall Dairy building at 1204 Whitney Avenue appears to be boarded up in this July 11, 1978 photo that was shot at the same time as the photo of the Whitney Theater that was posted last week. The same view 34 years later is devoid of any buildings, just trees. A five-story condominium building was constructed further back off Whitney Avenue at the same address in 1985.
Messrs. Brock and Hall were influential members of the Whitneyville Volunteer Fire Association from its inception in 1910. While the new Putnam Avenue firehouse was under construction from October 1926 until May of 1927, Co. 3's apparatus was housed at the home of H.F. Hall at 116 Putnam Avenue. From the Station 3 Log Book (1926-1947): "We moved our [1910 Locomobile and 1915 Maxim] from the old Fire house to H.F. Hall's garage on Thursday Nov. 18, 1926. Was moved back to New quaters (sic) Saturday May 15, 1927." Ironically, during that same period of time, on April 24, 1927, a fire did $33,500 in damages to the dairy's garage.
The gasoline shortage during World War II required the dairy to employ horse drawn milk wagons once again for home deliveries in the Whitneyville area, a practice that remained in effect for a couple of years after the war. The Brock-Hall dairy ceased operations in the late 1970s and the building was razed shortly thereafter.
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| CLICK here to visit the official website of the Hamden Professional Firefighters, Local 2687, I.A.F.F. |
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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 ten years ago on September 11, 2001.
Always keep them, their families and the FDNY in your thoughts and prayers.
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