Village of Mamaroneck FD Modern History

When the Mamaroneck Village Fire Department entered the 20th Century it was comprised of five companies -- Hook and Ladder, Mamaro, Fire Patrol, Volunteer and Columbia -- and while within the first 14 years of the new century the MFD would gain another company, it would also lose one.

Shortly before the new company was formed, however, the fire alarm system was improved. The fire whistles replaced the fire bells. On March 3, 1910 the Fire Council approved a fire alarm system which included alarm boxes and transmitters in 20 locations throughout the village. A fire whistle was on the roof of the Town Hall in 1911.

Around the turn of the century a New York City based realty firm was developing a section of the village known as Halstead Estate east of Barry Avenue, an area extending to the Harrison Town line. As the section became built up and its population grew, concern about the need for nearby fire protection prompted 25 public spirited residents to organize a new fire company.

This was how Halstead Manor Hose Co. No. 4 was started. Its first meeting was held April 12, 1910.  Its first officers were Jospeh J. Fox, foreman; F.H. Caswell, secretary; George Repp, treasurer; George W. Van Dusen, sergeant-at-arms, and Joseph Erdmann, William Lotz, Robert M. Gold, Frank Kildare and Frank Zilin, trustees.

Halstead Manor wanted to be part of the fire department, but was turned down by the Fire Council at a meeting July 11, 1910. Subsequently, the Village Board agreed with the Fire Council, the reason being that Columbia could handle coverage of fires in the Halstead Estate area and that, therefore, the new company was not needed.

Halstead Manor Joins MFD

A year later Halstead Manor applied again for admission to the fire department and won acceptance at a Fire Council meeting June 12, 1911. Francis J. Murray, who was foreman of Halstead Manor that year, represented his company at the meeting and asked the council for permission to establish a hose company in Halstead Manor. On a motion by Warden and Ex-Chief Goodwin of Hook and Ladder the request was granted. Warden Goodwin further recommended that the Village Board act with favor on the council's decision.

On June 20, 1911 the Village Board approved the Fire Council's action. Trustee J.D. Donnelly moved on the incorporation of Halstead Manor Hose Co. No. 4 and that a reel with 500 feet of hose be purchased for the new company. The motion carried.

Fire Patrol, which had fought to become part of the fire department in 1891 and won the battle, was disbanded in 1913, and the number of companies in the department dropped from six to five, its present complement.

Though the fire department was expanded a bit in the late 1960s and early 1970s with the addition of a Marine Division and a Rescue Squad, it has undergone no further major structural changes in the last 71 years.

Between 1911 and 1925 the Mamaroneck Fire Department made incredibly rapid progress, and the man behind the big push was John F. Hunter, M.D., who was president of the village through most of that 14 year period.

Under the leadership of Dr. Hunter the village worked wonders for the fire department for the first time in its history. Four firehouses were constructed by the village for the hose companies, and the entire fire department evolved from one that was dependent upon hoses to one that was fully equipped with automobile fire apparatus.

Dr. Hunter was president of the village from 1911 to 1921 and from 1922 to 1925 and during the years he held office the following events occurred:

Volunteer, which sometime between 1903 and 1905 changed its name to Volunteer Hose Co. No. 3 from Volunteer Engine Co. 1, became the fire department's first motorized company. Left high and dry without horses to pull its wagons after the owner of a stable near its headquarters relocated his business. Volunteer bought a Thomas automobile chassis in May 1911. Upon learning about the problem, the village acted quickly and furnished the body and equipment to make the vehicle into a fire machine.

On august 6, 1912 work began on building a firehouse for Mamaro. Located on Palmer Avenue between Mamaroneck and Mt. Pleasant Avenues, it was the first firehouse constructed by the village and was completed February 23, 1923.

Later in 1912 the village appropriated funds for the site of the Volunteer fire station on Mamaroneck Avenue near Columbus Park and ground was broken for its erection. The new firehouse opened March 10, 1915

In 1916 the village purchased Hook and Ladder's first motorized ladder truck, an American La France city service apparatus. The Mamaroneck Paragraph weekly newspaper hailed it as "a fine piece of apparatus and adds much to the equipment of our fire department." The truck was painted white and was pictured on the front page of the newspaper's July 13, 1916 edition.

An American La France combination chemical and hose motor apparatus was purchased by the Village for Columbia in 1916.

On November 18, 1917 an Aherns Fox combination pumper was purchased by the Village for Mamaro. Until this time Mamaro had been operating with a 1904 horse-drawn American La France metropolitan steamer and a 1906 horse-drawn hose wagon.

In 1920 the village purchased a White city service combination pumper for Volunteer.

Ground was broken for Columbia's firehouse on North Barry Avenue at Jefferson Avenue in 1922. The two-story brick and stucco structure was designed by Adrian Bedelle, an architect who lived in Mamaroneck, and it cost the village $30,000. It was open house at Columbia's new headquarters January 6, 1923.

In 1922 the village purchased Halstead Manor a fully-equipped Pierce Arrow fire apparatus.

Halstead Manor's firehouse, located on Halstead Avenue at Fourth Street, was built by the village at a cost of more than $30,000, and was opened in May 1924.

Born and raised in Mamaroneck, Dr. Hunter practiced medicine and, briefly politics in Mamaroneck, and he died in Mamaroneck on January 1, 1926 at the age of 59. he was a member of Mamaro, not a charter member, but he was on the roster when the company became Mamaro Engine and Hose Co. No. 1 in 1900. He was a member of the Westchester County Volunteer Firemen's Association, and he was one of the judges of events at the 53rd annual convention of the New York State Firemen's Association held in Mamaroneck August 17th through August 22, 1925.

A resolution paying tribute to Dr. Hunter and expressing sympathy to his family was adopted and spread on the minutes of Hook and Ladder's meeting January 4, 1926.

Dr. Hunter aided the Mamaroneck Fire Department during its evolutionary stage. "The efficiency of the fire department is due to his interest; he built many of the new firehouses and built up its personnel," John F. Kane, president of the Mamaroneck Chamber of Commerce at that time and who headed Hook and Ladder in 1908 and 1909, said shortly after the doctor's death.

Modern Apparatus for MFD

However, following the passing of Dr. Hunter, the swing of the pendulum continued to favor the fire department so that by 1931 all five companies were equipped with modern fire apparatus that approached the capability of those that are in service today.

Volunteer, the first engine company and the first motorized company, ironically was the last company to be equipped with a modern pumper, and when it arrived in 1931 it marked the first time in the fire department's history that the village had furnished its fire companies with up-to-date apparatus that were no more than five years old.

One of the most powerful pumpers in its day, Volunteer's $14,850 apparatus was a 1,000 gallon per minute American La France triple combination pumper that had a 12 cylinder, 244 horsepower V-type motor, nearly 100 more horsepower than any 1,000 gallon per minute pumper built at that time.

However, since those days there have been many "wet-downs" in the Mamaroneck Fire Department, with the most recent one in 1981 when Halstead Manor received the last pumper purchased by the village for its fire department to date. It is a 1,500 GPM Pierce pumper. The price of it came to approximately $116,000.

Today's equipment in the firehouses of the MFD also includes a 1965 truck, with a tiller, and a 1976 city service truck, both Seagrave and having 100-foot aerial ladders, at Hook and Ladder; a 1,500 GPM 1971 Seagrave pumper and a 1982 GMC diesel utility pickup truck at Volunteer, and a 1,250 GPM 1973 Mack pumper at Columbia.

In addition, Mamaro houses two pumpers, one a 1,500 GPM 1972 Oren, and the other a 1,250 GPM 1963 Seagrave, which is used as a spare to handle company calls and minor alarms. The 1963 pumper was turned over to Mamaro after Halstead Manor received its new apparatus. A spare pumper is kept at Mamaro because the company is close to the central business district.

Behind the two pumpers in a storeroom on the engine floor at Mamaro there rests a relic of the past. It is an 1887 jumper which Mamaro requested and received from Hook and Ladder 93 years ago. It is the oldest apparatus in the Mamaroneck Fire Department.