By autumn, 1925, a group of civic minded citizens concluded that
formation of a fire district to serve the community could not be delayed
further without consequences.   Reasons for this were twofold: Pride and
economics. For many years the Town of Brighton had been relying on the
Rochester Fire Department to answer calls within its territory.
This it did for a fee of $50 a fire which, over a period of time,
represented considerable expense.  And so with petitions in hand, the
group set forth to gain support among the local populace, informing them from the outset that expenses would be met by a lien on their property in the form of taxes. The proposition passed with practically no opposition. Shortly thereafter, a bond issue for $90,000 was approved in order to build and equip not one but three firehouses. Brighton's first pumper then arrived from Cincinnati and was temporarily housed in a barn of William S. Lozier on Clover Street. 

The mere purchasing of equipment, however, was not enough to convert the township into a Fire District. First, a corporate name had to be chosen and approved in Albany. Application for a charter was made to the Secretary of State, but almost immediately an obstacle arose. It seemed that one in the name of "Brighton Fire Department" had already been issued to a unit on East Avenue and Winton Road.  
The latter, however, was more commonly known locally as "The Disbanded Actives of Brighton." Much to the surprise of the fledgling outfit, the original charter was surrendered by the Disbanded Actives. In return for such courtesy, each member of the former unit was granted an honorary life membership in the new department.
Such was the beginning of a story, which in essence has no end . . . nor will it ever, as long as the threat of fire exists.

A department's first official fire is a momentous occasion filled with a particular sense of urgency and expectation. Brighton initial call turned out to be a false alarm on Klink Road the evening of December 16, 1925. The next call to action, however, proved to be quite real as Dr. Paine's barn on Penfield Road burst into flames and did a reported $10,000 worth of damage.

In the early months of 1926, plans were laid to purchase land for the building of Brighton's first firehouse on the corner of Landing Road and East Avenue. Recognizing that it was to be located in a strictly residential area, architect Leon Stern was commissioned and requested to make the exterior of the building conform with its surroundings. The English Tudor style employed by Stern remains to this day characteristic of all structures owned and occupied by the Brighton Fire Department.   By summer, it was determined that more protection was needed and. due to the addition of pumpers, arrangements were made for a second fire company to be temporarily headquartered in the old Parsons Cider Mill on Monroe Avenue.
This served the town's needs for more than a year.
 

As a new decade broke, ten young men between the ages of 14 and 18 were welcomed by the Brighton Fire Department and together Explorer Post No.513 was formed. Recognizing the continuing need for "new blood" in the ranks, the Explorers had been recruited by highly motivated veterans and their interest in firemanship grew quickly. A rigorous training schedule was begun to familiarize themselves with the skills necessary to become firemen.  Sessions on the theory of fire fighting, changing "air masks," using hoses and ladders, and the responsibilities of a fireman were eagerly attended by the Explorers. Such intensive training qualified them to participate in both drills and fires with regulars of the department and to assist them with crowd control, setting hose lines, directing lighting and cleaning up afterwards. Should you see a yellow helmeted boy furiously pedaling his bicycle toward a fire you know he's a Brighton Fire Department Explorer and proud of it. The youth leadership of the Explorers has proven itself effective as the group demonstrates time and again that the trust in them has been well placed. In four short years, two dozen Explorers have gone on to become volunteer firemen, proving how much of an asset they are to the department.

Despite the advances of the past fifty years, destructive fires continued into the Seventies, unfortunately many more than can be recounted here except for a few of the most memorable.  Early in the decade, volunteers were called to a fire in the basement of the Administration Building at St. John Fisher College. They responded quickly enough to restrict damage to the immediate area, but in doing so remained on the scene for more than eight hours. The spring of '72 saw two large barns burn on the farm of Max Groos on Westfall Road. Although damage was reported at $500,000, at least a million dollars more had been averted by isolating the blaze from surrounding structures, equipment and machinery.

A "second-time" fire was fought at the Maplewood Inn on July 1 1,1973, one having extensively damaged the famed local landmark 15 years earlier. On April 4, 1974, Max Gonsenhauser again found one of his barns ablaze and soon the department was battling this fire hampered by gale force winds. Despite an almost immediate response, fire raged through the Twelve Corners shopping area, February 1, 1974, destroying Fox's Delicatessen and four adjoining shops. It was the largest single fire since the gas explosions in 1951.  Thousands of spectators watched as hundreds of firemen battled towering flames for more than three hours in 18-degree temperatures. Almost all of Monroe County's fire departments east of the Genesee River were pressed into service or backed up other departments responding to the call. 

The year, 1974, brought some new problems as well. One of them was arson. On four different occasions multiple working fires occurred at the same time, sometimes involving several buildings in an apartment complex. Added to this has been a growing rash of false alarms and bomb scares. Approximately ten per cent of the alarms answered during 1974 turned out to be false.

As of this writing we have progressed but halfway through the Seventies. New episodes in the lives of brave men remain to be logged. For certain there is much hard and unpleasant work to be done. But it should be of some comfort to know that those chosen to do it have been well prepared.

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