Introduction of the Fire Department

Over one hundred years ago, back in the late 19th Century, it took a fire to start a fire company, and it took a fire company to start a fire department.

This is exactly the way Union No. 1 of Mamaroneck and Rye Neck Hook and Ladder Company came into existence and became the foundation of what is today the Mamaroneck Village Fire Department.

What the fire department is now is the legacy of a small group of men who banded together and formed Hook and Ladder, the pioneer company and the first to serve, following a sudden, devastating fire more than a century ago.

June 5, 1884 is the date Hook and Ladder began. The men who were elected into the ladder company were the fire department's first volunteer firemen. Passed along from father to son, brother to brother, friend to friend, the all-volunteer status of the Mamaroneck Village Fire Department has been preserved and perpetuated for 100 years.

Today's fire department consists of five companies: Hook and Ladder, and four engine and hose companies - Mamaro No. 1, Columbia No. 2, Volunteer No. 3, and Halstead Manor No. 4. In addition, the fire department has a Marine Division. Other parts include a Ladies' Auxiliary unit, which originated in 1924, and Explorer Post 444, an explorer scout group which the MFD has been sponsoring for over 10 years.

The fire department is run by the Chiefs and the company Captains, and the Fire Council is its governing body. The council is comprised of 10 wardens, two from each company, who serve as liaison officers between their respective companies and the council. Council meetings are conducted by the chief and are held at the house of the chief. Chiefs and company officers are elected for one year and wardens, two years.

In overall charge of the fire department is the Fire Commission, which consists of the mayor and Village Board of Trustees. The fire department elects its chiefs and officers, but the members of the Fire Commission are elected by registered voters.

While the village pays for major fire department costs, such as new equipment, most other expenses are met by the fire department with the proceeds from its annual fund-raising drive and carnival. The 37th drive is currently in progress.

Training, social and other activities, the annual Fireman's Parade, the July 4th fireworks display, and the Exempt Firemen's Benevolent Fund Association, which was started Jan. 25, 1902 to provide a death benefit, are just a few of the areas covered by donations to the fire department.

Since the startup of Hook and Ladder the fire department has made some impressive strides mainly because the right men have been in the right place at the right time, but its real success can only be attributed to the hundreds of men who over the years have volunteered to Join its ranks and become firefighters.

This Journal is intended to commemorate Hook and Ladder's 100th anniversary. It is by no means a definitive history, but it is authentic and presents for the first time a comprehensive view of the progress of Hook and Ladder and the fire department from past to present.