Village of Mamaroneck Three Lost Companies

Three companies of the Mamaroneck Fire Department over the years have come and gone. For reasons unknown they failed to stand the test of time. Their names were Orients Hose Co. No. 2 of Mamaroneck and Rye Neck Bonny Brook Hose Company, and Fire Patrol Co. No. 1. 8omc information about these lost companies follows.

Orienta Hose

Exactly when Orienta Hose Co. NO. 2 of Mamaroneck and Rye Neck came into being is not known. It was formed probably after Mamaro Hose Co. No. 1 since it carried the "No. 2" designation, and after the organization of the Mamaroneck and Rye Neck Fire Department in the spring of 1891.

Orienta Hose was a proud, feisty, highly competitive company that always strove to be the beat. Just for the sake of outshining Mamaro in appearance, for instance, the company went to the trouble of placing an arch, an iron scroll work with bell and lanterns attached, on its hose carriage in the middle of June in 1891.

Hook and Ladder's first formal contact with Oriental Hose came on Aug. 3, 1891 when the hose company invited the ladder company to its first annual picnic.

However, in the course of its brief existence Orienta Hose proved itself as being a first class fire fighting outfit and Just as tough and as brave as its counterparts in the fire department.

On the evening of Sept 14, 1891, Orienta Hose responded with Hook and Ladder, Mamaro and Fire Patrol to help battle a blaze on Jonathan C. Carpenter's farm in Scarsdale, Word was sent to the Mamaroneck and White Plains Fire Departments for assistance. The fire destroyed four large barns and their contents. but thanks to the work of the Mamaroneck firemen, who arrived first, the main house was saved.

Hook and Ladder's truck, drawn by horses, was the first on the scene followed quickly by Fire Patrol while Mamaro and Orienta Hose had to drag their carts the entire distance of about four miles. By the time they all got to the farm they found that the barns were gone and that the flames had spread to the wood-shed.

After the end of the woodshed nearest the house was torn away with hooks, a bucket line was formed to the house. The Mamaroneck firemen had the fire under control in an hour before White Plains, with engine and truck, put in an appearance.

While on the roof of the woodshed fighting the blaze, John Callahan, foreman of Hook and Ladder. was badly injured when he was struck by a chain hook. hut he lived to tell about it and became chief of the M&RNFD the following spring.

Charles Reilly was the one and only foreman of Orienta Hose Co. No. 2. The company was disbanded several months prior to Reilly's death on Oct. 15, 1892. He was 40 years old.

Bonny Brook

Bonny Brook Hose Company was organized Sept. 8, 1893, It originated in Washingtonville, with headquarters at Bonny Brook Park, an area that today encompasses Columbus Park.

Bonny Brook's first officers were John W. Hiney, foreman; Henry Lenz, first assistant foreman; P.J. O'Neill, second.

This company had a hose carriage, and was admitted to the fire department after it acquired hose and was in working order. Its delegates to the convention to nominate fire department officers in 1894 were Hiney, Lenz and Findley Cole.

How long Bonny Brook lasted is not known. It may have still been operating in 1895. but it did not exist in 1896, the year that the Mamaroneck Village Board resolved to form a fire department. It was headquartered fairly close to Volunteer and may have been absorbed by the engine company.

Fire Patrol

One of the original companies of the M&RNFD and the longest of the lost companies to endure. Fire Patrol Co. No. 1 was organized sometime in December of 1890. It was incorporated during the week ended April 4, 1891, the same week that Mamaro Hose Co. No. I was incorporated.

Fire Patrol's first officers were William A. Boyd, captain William S. Yale, first sergeant; and William Fisher, second sergeant. Other charter members were John Dixon, J.D. Daymon, L.E. Boyd, Walter Conklin, C.E. Tyler, J.B. Henry, George C. Crisfield, WA. Sickles, and William D. Daymon, the photographer who managed to save his equipment at the great fire on the West Post Road on Dec. 31, 1883.

Fire Patrol was a protective organization.

Almost 23 years after it was organized Fire Patrol was disbanded. At a meeting of the Fire Council on July 14,1913, it was moved and seconded that the Village Board of Trustees disband.

On Oct. 26, 1914, the Fire Council authorized repairs to the patrol wagon so that it could be freed to carry extra firemen and police to the scene of a fire, and two years later the council agreed to turn over Fire Patrol's wagon and equipment.