Looking back at volunteer fire companies

Thundersplash to raise funds for departments

By FRITZ MAYER

SULLIVAN COUNTY, NY — The history of several fire companies will be on display at the Thundersplash event on June 6, through the antique equipment that some of the companies possess. And there is much history to consider in the realm of volunteer firefighting.

Though the county came into being in 1809, fire companies in many of the towns and villages didn’t come into existence until 50 years later and more. And the thing that sparked the birth of a company was often, not surprisingly, a memorable blaze.

In 1857 in Liberty, there was a fire that was reportedly deliberately started by a burglar in a store in the small village. The store and two other buildings burned to the ground and sparked the creation of a volunteer fire department there by 1861.

In Monticello, a major fire erupted in April 1874 and destroyed at least nine stores, including two hotels and a newspaper office, and led to the formation of the Monticello Fire Department by March of 1875.

In Narrowsburg, a major fire occurred in 1898, and destroyed several buildings on Main Street, including the prominent Arlington Hotel. While it took a few years for the fire company to come into being, by the spring of 1902, the Narrowsburg Fire Department (NFD) was formed.

For anyone looking to delve a bit deeper into the history of a volunteer fire company, the web site of the NFD is the place to go. There, at www.narrowsburgfd.com, a click on the history link leads to a distillation of nearly 100 years of minutes of fire department meetings dating back to 1902. The information was culled by longtime NFD member Art Hawker, who joined the department in 1968, and who is still a member.

The information shows the ups and downs of a rural fire company and the things that concerned the members over the years, such as the purchase of equipment. Also, at the beginning, as now, raising funds was an ongoing concern.

At a meeting on June 10, 1902, members voted to have a picnic on the Fourth of July to raise money to help pay for equipment and other needs. Those fundraising events continue today for NFD, with the Fourth of July parade, and fundraisers at such events as Riverfest and Eaglefest.

Also during that first year, dues for members were set a $1 per year, and in the words of Hawker, it was determined that “members should not appear at a meeting or on duty ‘in a state of intoxication’, nor should they be guilty of ‘using insulting, indecent, or improper language, conduct unbecoming a gentleman, or otherwise being a disgrace to the department.’” Members who violated those rules faced a $1 fine or expulsion from the company. Members were also fined 10 cents for missing a fire.

Through the decades, some years were busier than others. And in some years, barely any meetings were held at all. At the October 1937 meeting, for instance, Hawker writes, “Although not enough members showed for the meeting to produce a quorum, minutes report ‘Phil Gebhart, Lud Gebhart, Fred Hendrix, Dick Behling and two other fellows told a few stories and went home.’”

The challenge: maintaining our volunteer fire departments

Art Hawker, who, along with being a member of NFS, is also a state fire fighter instructor as well as chief of patrol for the Sullivan County Sheriff’s Office, said there are continuing challenges to keeping the department functioning.

He said, “It’s reached a point in Tusten, for the past 10 years or so, we’ve been doing an automatic response with the Lava [fire department] because the daytime staffing is very limited. So many people work out of the community, or if they are working in the community, their bosses are reluctant to let them just go off to answer a fire call.

“It used to be that there was more local employment, where the business owners were also members of the fire department and everyone just dropped what they were doing, and maybe that’s not feasible these days.

“So we’re trying to answer the needs of the community with fewer people. We have discussed, very preliminarily, the possibility of creating a single fire department in the Town of Tusten, where some equipment would be kept in Lava and some in Narrowsburg. There are a lot of legal and financial issues to explore there, but it is being discussed. It kind of goes along with the whole concept of consolidation of services and assets. In Tusten, we’ve got basically three class A pumpers within three miles of each other; they probably represent $200,000 or $250,000 apiece. Do you really need that many class A pumpers, or would it be better— and this is part of our discussions—to keep one engine in Lava, their tanker and maybe a brush truck, and in Narrowsburg a rescue truck for car extrications and an engine. The question is how can we make the most out of the taxpayer dollars without sacrificing service.”

Thundersplash

Thundersplash will be held June 6, at the Landers Campground in Narrowsburg, with proceeds benefiting the fire departments of Narrowsburg, Callicoon, Yulan, Lumberland, Highland Lake and Beach Lake, PA, as well as the Tusten Volunteer Ambulance Corps.

There will be a country music showdown contest or talent contest at noon, with performances by established acts throughout until 6:00 p.m.

There will be attractions for the kids, plenty of food and other activities. There is a $3 cover charge at the door. Thundersplash, which is being promoted by the Thunder 102 radio station, will be held rain or shine.