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History Of the Brighton Fire Department
continued...
In 1927, the Brighton Fire District purchased a lot
from the Buckland property
facing Elmwood Avenue and siding
on Winton Road. It is now referred to as Number 2
Firehouse. Three years later men and equipment moved into
Firehouse Number 3 at
the corner of Blossom Road and Clover
Street. Since the fall of 1926, Pumper 3 had been stored in
the VanBortle garage at Landing Road and Rich’s Dugway.
Alarms could be answered from the location, of course. But
now a permanent structure north of
the mainline New York
Central Railroad tracks was needed, particularly since there
was no overpass at Penfield Road. With the third station
fully manned, there were at last firehouses protecting the
entire fire district.
Women, too, played a role in the formation of the
Brighton Fire Department.
Their willing presence during
emergencies with hot coffee and sandwiches provided
an
extremely valuable service. Such interest led to the
incorporation of a Ladies Auxiliary in June of 1929, and
contributed to the further growth and development of
the
department.
Now firmly organized, training methods had to be
established and since Brighton
had no such facilities,
volunteers were sent to the old Rochester Training Towers on
Genesee Street. The use of First Aid, ventilation and other
fire fighting practices
were employed, and the Fireman's
Golden Rule became drilled into the head of every recruit:
"Extinguish the blaze with the least possible property
damage. It's your neighbor's property . . . protect it as if
it were your own. "Just because he's a volunteer doesn't
make him a trained firefighter." Words such as these have
been spoken ever since the first meeting of the Brighton
Fire Department and at last something was being done about
it. In the early days, traveling into Rochester for classes
was expensive and time consuming. By forming its own
training school behind Number 1 Firehouse in 1931, the
department further sought to improve its proficiency.
Brighton was one of the few volunteer fire departments in
the nation to have such a program. In time, floodlights were
installed to enable drills after dark.
According to the old Rochester Sunday American,
subjects covered were: "Description and operation of booster
tanks; use of equipment on trucks; instruction
on use of
special equipment; elementary First Aid; application and use
of gas masks
and the use of chemical fire extinguishers."
These, of course, were primarily outdoor activities. When
the evening's session was complete, the men went indoors for
classes in fire prevention at home, additional First Aid
training and the instruction
of fire prevention techniques
for dissemination to various civic groups. The formative
years were now well behind. The founders were heartened that
total involvement and dedication were still increasing.
As World War II raged in Europe and the Pacific,
Americans increasingly turned their attention to events
overseas. Protected by great oceans, friendly neighbors and
insulated from the theatres of war, Americans of course had
been spared the
bombings and massive destruction experienced
elsewhere. Yet the War Years were difficult years for the
Brighton Fire Department, and in many ways dangerous years
for the community which like thousands of others had been
decimated by total mobilization. Life, however, continued on
the home front, as did the never-ending
battle against fire.
Regulars in the department called to war were soon replaced
by substitutes who gave an impressive account of themselves.
In support of the war effort, a "Victory Garden" was planted
at Firehouse 1. A major fire during those trying days
destroyed the Norbert W. Haefner home on Edgewood Avenue and
left 13 homeless. Two Battalion Chiefs, Howard Huscher and
Harold Gramkee, then
established an emergency Haefner
headquarters at Firehouse 1 and the emergency relief squad,
headed by Captain Oliver Barbeau, collected articles which
more than a hundred persons had offered the destitute
family.
more...
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