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Crime & Safety

The History of the Naugatuck Fire Department, Part 1

This it the first part in a two-week column series on the origins of Naugatuck's first responders.

With nothing more than a bucket brigade, a system of church bells and factory alarms to alert citizens when a fire was discovered, the town of Naugatuck needed a better system in place to fight fires in the 19th Century.

In 1882 George M. Allerton, president of the Goodyear India Rubber Glove company, organized a group of employees from his factory to create the borough’s first volunteer fire company. The 23 men called themselves the Glove Hose Company No. 1. Their equipment consisted of a hose carriage named the "Vigilant” with 500 feet of hose, which was kept in the Glove's company's yard near one of the Allerton fire engines, and a small Knowles pump, which was later replaced with a large Knowles fire pump which supplied the pressure for Glove company's plant and its immediate surroundings.

This was a private fire company but business and individuals were welcome to subscribe to the fire service. The town of Naugatuck voted to pay $100 per year for protection of the then new town hall and the Maple Street Bridge. A fire had wiped out many small shops and mills and as business expanded in town and more expensive equipment was brought in to the mills, fire protection was essential.

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In 1888 the company of 35 men joined with citizens to increase to 60 members and became the Naugatuck Hose Company. The equipment was still kept in the Glove Company’s yard, but the company had their headquarters in a room in post office block on Water Street.
In 1891 a new wooden building was built for the firehouse on Water Street and in March 1892,the company formally took possession, shortly after naming the company the Naugatuck Hose and Hook and Ladder Company No. 1.

It’s no wonder fire was such a source of concern as some the practices of the day were less than fire safe.

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In a column in the Naugatuck Daily News from 1897, titled Woman’s Sphere, they explain what was considered an excellent way to clean lace. They suggested real and delicate silk laces are easily cleaned by the use of benzene, gasoline or naphtha. Simply put the gasoline in a bowl and douse lace dipping it up and down rapidly.

If the gasoline becomes dirty, put the lace into another vessel and pour fresh gasoline over it, dipping up and down until it is perfectly clean. Then stretch the lace on a clean table and secure it with a few tacks or pins. Place in a room where no dust will fall on it and allowed to remain all day as day's airing will be necessary to be rid of the odor.

Just as today, firefighters never quite knew what they would find as they responded to an alarm. It reported by the paper in April of 1897 that the fire at Daniel Sullivan’s of Lewis Street did little damage to his home but certainly gave him a wake up call, perhaps on the virtues of staying sober.

“At 2:30 this afternoon an alarm of fire was sounded from box 29, calling the fire department to a tenement house on Lewis Street owned by Thomas Neary and occupied upstairs by Daniel Sullivan.
The firemen arrived promptly and found the house filled with smoke. Upon entering one of the bedrooms on the north wide some blankets were found a fire and they were quickly thrown out of a window. The paper on the wall near where the bed clothes were found was burning was extinguished with a pail of water. No other damage was done and just how the fire occurred is not known."

"Daniel Sullivan, the tenant had gone to bed with a good sized jag aboard and while in the midst of pleasant dreams was awakened by the strong smell of smoke. He lost no time in getting out of the room to the roof over the veranda on the other side of the house and shouted FIRE at the top of his voice."

"The noise he made attracted attention to the house and smoke was seen issuing from the windows."

"Previous to the arrival of firemen, Sullivan stood on the veranda roof and refused to come down. He evidently didn’t like the idea of going into the house again until the smoke had been cleaned out. 
When the firemen came a ladder was raised to where Sullivan was standing making a speech to the crowd and he condescended to cease his oratory and go down the ladder. Sullivan said that he was nearly suffocated when he awoke and that he got out of the building as quickly as possible. The fire had the effect of frightening away a good part of Sullivan's jag and when the department left the house he was almost sober. He is married and lives with his wife but she was not, at home when the fire occurred. The recall was sounded at 2:40.”

I would say luck was on Mr. Sullivan’s side that his wife was elsewhere.
It was the quick thinking of Fire Chief Fuller, two days later, that saved Mr. Wragg’s carpenter shop on Church Street as reported by the newspaper:

“The firemen were called out again last night by an alarm which was sounded from box 21. Thev were not needed because the blaze which was in Wragg's job carpenter shop on Church Street had been extinguished before their arrival. Mr. Wragg has just opened a carpenter shop in the building on the Andrew property, which was formerly used as a blacksmith shop by Mr. Salisbury. Last night he and an assistant were about to start their engine, when a gasoline tank at the rear of the engine exploded and in a moment the flames were licking the wall at the east end. Fire Chief Fuller happened to be near at the time the alarm was given and he immediately rushed into the building and extinguished the blaze with three pails of water. The men who owned the shop were badly frightened, and had it not been for Chief Fuller's timely arrival, the fire might have made good headway before the arrival of the department. The recall was sounded about a minute after the first alarm was given.”

There were fireboxes located throughout the town. Citizens could reach in and pull the hook to alert the department of a fire. This would trigger a telegraph type gadget in the fire department with the location of the box represented by a series of bumps on strips of paper. Four bumps then two bumps, then three bumps would represent Box 423, this would also trigger an alarm.

Each box number had a designated route to follow from the firehouse to that location that was strictly followed by the department.

The newspaper often listed the location of the boxes. According to a sampling from 1897, the boxes were located on Meadow, Church and Maple streets, as well as High Street, Rubber Avenue and Millville Avenue.

On April 7, 1897, Chief Fuller gave an annual report of the Fire Department. He listed all the equipment in their possession and mentioned six double hydrants had been connected to the reservoir on Mulberry Brook making a total of 89 hydrants in the borough. On many occasions he said the water pressure was very poor and was in hopes the Water Company would put in larger pipes.

He then pleaded with borough board members to consider needed repairs to the Water Street building as well as a new building in Union City. He cited a terrible fire that had occurred on Spring Street on Jan. 26 of that year. 

Because of the distance of the Water Street station, the deep snow and the good mile the firefighters had to run to reach the fire, they were unfit to fight such a hard blaze. He concluded he was confidant the taxpayers would stand behind the fire department and at the end of the meeting his requests were approved.

And so it was on September 4th, 1899 the New Hose House was proudly unveiled.

The Union City Hose House was described as a handsome building with a slate roof, outside thresholds of local granite and the finest brick with a fine basement that can be used as a llock up. It was a true credit to the town.

The following is an excerpt from the September 4, 1899 Daily News, 
The headline read: Our Fireman’s Gala Day!
“An ideal day for a our citizens and visitors to view the biggest parade of fireman ever held and thoughly enjoyed by all. 5000 people present from out of town, Naugatuck was Proud Of Her Fire Laddies. The credit due to them, who have made the day one long to be remembered."

Our firemen, through the many years, have successfully battled our fires with great courage and perseverance. It is their tender arms we run to in the face of the unthinkable, it is our loved ones and even pets that they risk their lives for even as they have families of their own that depend on them. Naugatuck owes a great debt of gratitude to these special heroes.

Join me next week for Part 2 of The History of the Naugatuck Fire Department.

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