The Way It Was
Prior to 1954 there was no formal fire brigade. As memories serve the people interviewed and town documents reviewed for this writing fire protection was done by a small group of men. Fire phones would right in selected houses and the person answering would start calling the firefighters. This telephone tree style of notification was used for many years.
Once notified, the firefighters would go to the town garage and pick up the Fitzhenry Guptill pump. This pump was mounted on a trailer and pulled to where the fire was with whatever motorized vehicle was available. This pump which had three pistons and was chain driven, provided adequate pressure to fight the fires of the times. The men also had hoses and Indian hand pumps at their disposal.
The majority of the fires around that time were brush or forest fires. Records indicate that other surrounding towns came of assist, such as Heath, Charlemont, and North Adams. The phrase, "We saved the cellar hole," was heard many times after a structure fire. By the time the mutual aid would arrive there was nothing left built the cellar hole and chimney.
According to Town reports, budgets were as tight then as they are now. Line items show the town spending more money on the cutting and burning of brush than on fire protection. The 1950 town report shows voters were asked to appropriate the sum of $250.00 for fire fighting and patrol. Yet, they were asked to appropriate $1,500.00 for brush removal. This trend is appropriations lasted for many years.
The summer of 1950 was extremely dry. In August a major fire along the Indian Trail erupted and encompassed Todd Mountain at the Florida-Charlemont town line. This fire was fought by some 60 men from Florida, Charlemont and State Crews. The State set up the Fitzhenry pumps they had in the Cold River at the bottom of the hiking trail which leads to the Mohawk Trail State Campground. The fire was on the mountain top so another pump was set halfway up the trail to supply water to the top. The Florida crew attacked the fire with Indian pumps and hand tools. They accessed the fire from the end of Tower Road where Tom and Jana Brule' now live.
To supply water to the firefighters, trucks carrying whatever type of tanks they could, would shuttle water to the top of the mountain. Stanley Brown was, at the time, working at the State Forest. He was driving a state truck with two sap gathering tanks supplying water to the men.
This fire started in the early afternoon and crews worked throughout the night to extinguish this blaze. It became tough to fight because the fire went underground. Fire crews worked for days grubbing into the ground and patrolling for flare-ups.
This year the Town had to appropriate an extra $750.00 for fire fighting to cover the expenses of this enormous fire. The report shows the firefighters were paid anywhere from $1.50 to $13.00 for their efforts. Today the department is totally volunteer.
In 1951 a new school was built and it became apparent the town needed a pumper fire truck. It was not until the 1953 town meeting that a vote was taken and monies were raised to purchase a truck. On April 30, 1954, the Town's fire fire truck was delivered at the cost of $15500.00.
At this time funds were also authorized to build a firehouse. In addition, $1500.00 was appropriated for fire alarm and civil defense siren system to better notify the men of a fire. this was installed in 1956. The Florida Volunteer Fire Department was now organized with Frank Gifford, as it's first Fire Chief.
The first station in Florida build on Church Road, Drury section of Florida.
Station 2