| Sta. 4 (Headquarters) - Centerville - 2374 Whitney Ave. |
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The historical outline below is taken from the program for
the Second Annual Hamden Firemen's Memorial Service,
held at Memorial Town Hall on June 10, 1934.
The History Committee for the event consisted of
Messrs. Ralph Eno, Michael J. Whalen, and Harold G. Emerson.
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| Centerville Co. 4 (left) in 1908 (Photo courtesy of the Hamden Historical Society) |
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The Centerville Volunteer Fire Association was incorporated in 1905. In 1907, they built their first station on town property approximately where the apparatus ramp is today. It was razed when the Memorial Town Hall building was erected in 1924.
Like all of the other town volunteer fire companies at the time, the Centerville fire company was an independent fire department until the Hamden Fire Department was created by an act of the State Legislature in 1925. The act brought all of Hamden's fire companies under the umbrella of one municipal fire department.
In the photo above, the building on the right still stands, although it is scheduled for demolition in conjunction with the ongoing renovation to the old town hall. The building can also be seen in the photo below, as well as in several other photos taken in later decades (see the Reilly's fire webpage, which can be accessed from the ACTION webpage).
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| Station 4 - c. 1925 (Photo courtesy of Wayne Chorney) |
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When the Memorial Town Hall was constructed in 1924, the town provided room for the Centerville fire company in the northeast corner of the new building. This is what Station 4 looked like before the bay doors faced Whitney Avenue. When responding to emergencies, apparatus had to make a 90 degree turn after pulling out of the station in order to exit onto Whitney Avenue. Construction to move the bay doors from the School Street side of the building to the Whitney Avenue side began in November 1939. Official Town of Hamden stationery continued to show a rendering of the pre-1939 configuration until well into the 1970s.
The building next door with the American Legion billboard is still standing, although the billboard is long gone. The building is scheduled for demolition in conjunction with the currently anticipated renovations to Station 4.
This previously unpublished photo was taken by an employee of the United Advertising Co. around 1925. The original negative was discovered in a Whalley Avenue antique store several years ago.
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Old view of Station 4 bay doors.
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| 1938 - Squad i.f.o. old Station 4 bay doors (Photo by G. Donald Steele) |
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| 1938 - Rear view of 1938 Seagrave Canopy Cab pumper i.f.o. old Station 4 bay doors (Photo by G. Donald Steele) |
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Tuesday, September 22 - At approximately 3:45 this afternoon Station 4 was vacated as the Squad and its three-man crew rolled down the ramp onto Whitney Avenue and headed to a new temporary home at Station 3, as work soon begins on a complete renovation of the apparatus floor and living quarters. This will be the first major structural renovation of Station 4 since 1940, when the bay doors were moved to face Whitney Avenue and the Alarm Room was added.
Until the job is done, the Squad will run out of Station 3. Rescue 1 will run out of Station 5. With Station 4 closed, Engines 2, 5 and 9 will have expanded first alarm territories for the duration of the renovation, which is expected to take from 18 to 24 months.
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The spiral staircase and sliding pole were unique to Station 4. The pole afforded a somewhat more expeditious way of getting to the apparatus floor (vs. the spitral staircase). Anyone who ever worked there had to learn just how to slide the pole. And doing it in short sleeves could be challenging.
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L-R: Firefighters Craig Smart, Ed Hilbert and Lt. Dave Proulx pose on the apparatus floor next to the only sliding pole ever installed in a Hamden fire station. Less than fifteen minutes later, these three guys mounted the Squad as the last crew to leave "old" Station 4. In 18 to 24 months, a totally "new" Station 4, in the same location, will be ready for occupancy. Although the spiral staircase will be gone, there will be a pole.
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| November 1963 - Engine 4 and Rescue 2 are out! (Vaccaro photo) |
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With the exception of the antique upholstered chair used by the watchman and the old rotary dial telephone, this is pretty much the way the apparatus floor looked the day Station 4 closed for renovations 46 years later.
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| The Squad leaves 4's (as we knew it) for the last time |
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| The Squad leaves 4's (as we knew it) for the last time |
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| Fire safety in the home sometimes starts in a fire station (Photo courtesy of Tom Doherty) |
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May 1971 - One of the best ways to promote fire safety in the home is through public education programs directed at elementary school children. We've all done it many times. Here, Lt. Tom Doherty gives school kids the grand tour of Station 4, starting with the 1968 Maxim S-model 1000 GPM pumper.
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| May 1971 - Getting Ready for the Parade (Photo courtesy of Tom Doherty) |
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An annual ritual for all Hamden firefighters is to freshen up apparatus cosmetics for the Memorial Day Parade. By May 1971, the International Travel-al that had been Rescue 2 since 1960 was getting pretty tired. It was replaced six months later. Bob Viglione and Walt Macdowall are seen here performing routine pre-parade cosmetic maintenance. (Until November 1971, "Rescue 2" was the designation of the rescue unit assigned to Station 4.)
1971 was the first year that federal law set the date for Memorial Day as the last Monday in May. From 1868 until 1970, Memorial Day was always observed on May 30th regardless of the day of the week.
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| Carmen Amarante and Paul Reutenauer |
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The Alarm Room at Station 4 was built when the fire station was reconstructed in 1939-40. The alarm system was moved from Station 2 to Station 4 in May of 1941.
The circuit board pictured in the background was for the Gamewell telegraph alarm system. It was replaced by a newer console in the late 1960s. The Gamewell system remained a part of the town-wide fire alarm system until the early 1990s. Note the old-fashioned "candlestick" telephone sitting on the file cabinet and the wooden magneto ringer box mounted on the back wall. These instruments were part of the inter-station communications system that was replaced in 1981, when SNET installed the Horizon telephone system as part of the conversion to Central Communications.
Inaugurated on November 19, 1981, Central Communications combined dispatching for fire and police in the basement of the former Miller Library building.
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| 1963 - Chief Dispatcher Wilbur Baker answers the telephone while D/C Training Officer Daniel Hume looks on. The window between the Alarm Room and the apparatus floor was added in the late 1950s. (Vaccaro photo) |
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| Station 4 - November 1963 - Clockwise L-R: Paul Reutenauer, Gil Spencer, John Hoffman, and Milner Benham (Vaccaro photo) |
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| December 1967 - State instructor, Thomas Forbes, conducts Civil Defense training in the volunteers' meeting room at Station 4. Seated in front L-R: Lt. Luke Tobin, Ffs. Hugh McLean, Bill LaVelle, and Gerry Wolf. Seated rear: Ffs. Mario "Bucky" Serafino and Bill Davin. Standing in rear: Dep. Chief Training Officer Dan Hume and Chief V. Paul Leddy. (Vaccaro photo - CLICK to enlarge) |
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| April 1988 - Station 4, Platoon 2 - L-R: Ron Desroches, Bill Fitzmaurice, Bob Anthony, Harold Prescher, Capt. Mike Ambriscoe, and Cmdr. Joe McDermott. (CLICK to enlarge) |
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After the horrendous June flood of 1982, the fire department purchased several metal flat bottom rowboats. One of them (pictured above) was stored at Station 4, suspended from the ceiling above Engine 4. On a warm summer night in 1983, when boredom overcame a one-horned prankster who was stationed there, the tiny vessel was christened with stick-on letters as a tribute to a non-uniformed department member. The boat still hung there well into the 1990s.
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| c. 1973 - Chief V. Paul Leddy's 1968 Chrysler i.f.o. Headquarters. The Chief and Fire Marshal shared a small office on the second floor of Memorial Town Hall, at the top of the north stairwell. (Photo courtesy of Clark Hurlburt) |
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| May 1983 - The 5-6 p.m. "mill." Rich Mayhew and Don Buechele, as we were waiting for the night shift to show up. |
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| September 1991 - Cmdr. Joe McDermott's Final Day on the Job |
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Joe McDermott commanded Platoon Two from May 1973 until his retirement at the end of September 1991. On the final day of Platoon 2's day shift, September 27, 1991, Chief John Tramontano escorted Cmdr. McDermott to all fire stations so his guys could wish him a happy, healthy and long retirement. Joe is now living in Branford and is still going strong.
Pictured L-R: Capt. Dave Johnson, Ron Desroches, Bob Anthony, Cmdr. Bill Coppola, Cmdr. McDermott, Chief Tramontano, Bill Fitzmaurice, Ed Doiron, and Jim Dunlop. (Photo taken by Bob Macauley)
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All photos on this website not otherwise in the Public Domain, as well as all commentary,
are © Copyright 2009-10 by the Hamden Fire Retirees' Assn.
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