In the 1880’s in Rochester, there were no appropriations made by the town for public safety, neither police nor fire. By 1888, an article came before town meeting to vote to offer a fixed payment for forest fire fighting. With its abundance of forested land, the biggest fire concerns centered around forest fires. There were fire towers throughout the area to alert towns of potential danger. One was on Mendall Rd. in Acushnet well into the 1950’s.
Early fires were fought by volunteers and by 1890, town records show that payments were made of $1.60 for each of five men. After 1894, a bad year for fires, 31 firefighters were listed in town for 1895.
In 1910, town meeting appropriated money to be spent in 1911 for fire extinguishers. In an article in “Rochester Journal #4”, George “Fred” Randall recalls that at the age of seven, “I would go with my father in the back seat of a 1936 Plymouth. My job was to hold two soda and acid extinguishers”. This was an important job for a seven yr. old, especially with his father’s instructions, ” Don’t let the damn things tip over”.
In 1921, Daniel E. Hartley was the first appointed Fire Warden, and he was allotted 3 deputies. The deputies stored the fire extinguishers at their houses. In 1925, the three Deputy Wardens were L.C. Humphrey, Clarence Maxim and Freeman Fuller.
In the 1940’s, there were finally appropriations passed to create a fire department. In 1945, after the town appropriated $3000.00 for the purchasing of a fire engine, an old army truck was purchased in New Bedford and sent to the Maxim Company in Middleboro to be retrofitted. A 500- gallon water tank, a small air- cooled pump and some hoses were installed in the back of what was essentially a pickup truck. Additional hoses and ladders were attached to the side and a siren was added. The truck was painted bright (fire engine) red with Rochester F. D. lettered in gold on the door.
Once the renovation was completed, the truck arrived in town on June 26, 1945. It was none too soon as a fire broke out on the woodlot of Everett Sherman and Mrs. Josephine Dexter. The conflagration was extinguished by the new truck pumping gallons of water on to the blaze. The fire engine (seen in the picture) was housed in a section of the town highway department building until the Waterman School was turned into a fire station.
After the acquisition of the truck, fifteen call fire men were trained on the use of the truck and a new era of fire fighting in Rochester had begun.
Thanks to Betty Beaulieu for the compilation of most of the data included.
By Connie Eshbach
