A History of the Lake George Volunteer Fire Department

An adaptation of the “The Lake George Volunteer Fire Department, 100 years of service, 1891-1991”, written by Donald Fangboner.

The organization known today as the Lake George Fire Department was first organized by the town and then reorganized by the village on August 8, 1891. This organization was first named James H. Carpenter Hose Co. #1 of Lake George, New York , named after a prominent citizen of Lake George at that time. In the mid-1890s it was changed to the Lake George Hose Company and then in 1930 to the Lake George Fire Department. In the following we will try to chronicle these change over the past 100 years of service.

The James H. Carpenter Hose Co. #1 of Lake George, New York, was formed after a disastrous fire at the Hubbell Saw Mill on May 28, 1890. The saw mill, which was located on Lake Avenue, was owned by F. B. Hubbell and his two sons. There was no fire insurance and it put 30 people out of work.

The town minutes (1875-1898) p. 148 for July 23, 1891 state:

“The Board of the Town of Caldwell appointed the following citizens to be a Fire Company for the extinguishment of fires in their town.” The following citizens were appointed:

Apparently there was some dissension because there was another meeting on August 8, 1891 and these seventeen names were listed:

All of the above are noted on the list of July 23, 1891—appointed by the town—however, in the actual fire company minute book, a small "17" is inked in with the same hand and script and this can only mean these are the original seventeen members.

A committee of three was appointed consisting of W. H. Stanton, E. D. Irish and H. C. Noyes to investigate the reasons the rest withdrew and see if they wished to return. It is noted in the first minute book and signed by J. E. Sexton, Secretary—that

. . . the differences between the two factions of the Company have been settled—a public meeting held and it was decided to turn the fire apparatus (hose and cart) over to a legally orga­nized company.

... at the citizens meeting on a motion by G. F. Bryant and seconded by E. H. Gordon it was decided to call the Company the James H. Carpenter Hose Co. #1 of Lake George, New York.

We might give pause here to consider just who was James Carpenter? To begin with, he was the owner of one of the more elegant hotels in our area. James Carpenter and his wife Elizabeth owned the Caldwell House which stood where the Maynard Center now stands. He was also the town clerk in 1885. Mr. Carpenter was 59 years old when the fire company was named for him and subsequently never became a member. It is noted that he lent aid and financial support to the new company.

In 1897 the Carpenter Hose Co. was officially changed to the Lake George Hose Company.

From the fire company's earliest inception the firemen of Lake George made steady progress.

March 3, 1891, p. 199 of the town minutes records that. . .

Resolved that the members of the lames H. Carpenter Hose Company be and each of them is hereby exempted from Payment of Highway Poll Tax . .

Also that the poll tax paid for the last two years be refunded.

February 11, 1908 —at a special village meeting it was speculated that the equipment of the hose company was not fit for fire protection. Therefore, the secretary was authorized to request the village board to put before the electors (voters) a proposition to levy one mill per dollar of assessed valuation.

July 27, 1908
Resolved, there would be raised by tax upon the taxable property and persons upon the assessment roll for one mill per dollar." Thus, the trail for public support was blazed.

The fire company up to this point lacked no members for there was a waiting list; lacked no funds for that was forthcoming from 1908, but it did lack one very basic element, a firehouse.

Many temporary homes were used, a meat market, the Courthouse and so on. Until 1914, the Company records are replete with sizes of hose houses 11 x 26, 26x30, 12x18, and on and on, it would seem every meeting would spawn a new size of a "Hose House." That is until 1914.

March 17, 1914, it was adopted that there would be a firehouse built and used also by the village for village offices.

The fire company was so happy they loaned the village $300.00. About $50.00 was repaid through the years. (A lady who wrote an early history of the fire company stated that, “as far as she knows, the $250.00 was never repaid!”)

Just a few short years later, in 1920, a committee was appointed to have the firehouse enlarged to accommodate their first new fire truck. The truck was an American LaFrance (c. 1919) fire engine combination chemical and hose car with equipment mounted on a one-ton Ford chassis for $ 1,950.00. This fire truck had a 4-cylinder engine, a 124-inch wheel base, a 1,000-foot 2 1/2 inch fire hose, a 40-gallon chemical tank and one pick head fire ax, (2) ladders, one 20' extension ladder and one 12-foot ladder, one 8 1/2 inch locomotive bell, 2 electric headlights, 1 tire pump and 1 tire repair kit. The particulars state:

Paint

"The apparatus to be handsomely painted in official Fire Department red, with five coach colors. The decorative work is to be attractive in design and execution and is to be well grounded and finished with best wearing varnishes."

Lettering

On body panels "Lake George Hose Co." on both sides. On motor hood "L.G.H. Co."—both sides.

The following years showed much progress in fighting fires, and the men of the fire company demonstrated much ingenuity to raise those funds. The 1920s and 30s, I believe, exhibited great progress and growth in the company.

In 1925, Foreman Gabb was able to order 6 rubber coats, 6 pair of boots, 6 pair of gloves and 150 feet of hose, and have a box made on the fire truck to carry this equipment. It was not until 1929 that the first white rubber coats were ordered for the chiefs. In 1928, the village ordered 6 steel helmets and one chief’s helmet for fire department use.

One item in the village minutes that is of interest was a notation of August 1928

. . . gifts sent to Warrensburg and Glens Falls for help with fire on August 17, 1928 at $50.00 per department.

Today we might think of this as strange then, not so. This tradition follows the old-time practice of paying cash awards to the company whose water first touched a fire. However, this created such fierce rivalries and caused horren­dous fights that it was afterwards discontinued.

One very important aspect of firefighting in Lake George was the method of giving alarms. At first, bells were used, in the school, the courthouse, the churches. As technology increased, a greater need to communicate was felt.

Finally, on November 22, 1922, Mr. Archibald requested that the village purchase a fire siren. A committee of one was appointed consisting of a Mr. Harris. W. Harris. He reported back that he went to look at Bolton Landing's siren and stated that it was a 5 to 6 horsepower siren and cost about $600.00.In 1925, a siren was purchased and a contract entered into with the Shermerhorn Construction Company to put up a siren on the fire house. In August of that year, the village policeman was instructed to blow the siren every day at noon.

However, by October 1929, the button to activate the siren was moved from the fire station to the telephone company. Before this, the village had a conflict with the New York Power and Light Corp., advising them that there was a flat rate fee established for all fire sirens in New York State and which rate ... "is considerably
lower than that charged for our siren."

Through the years, the alarm had its ups and downs. The original procedure was to have telephone operators call fire chiefs and then sound the alarm. In 1936 it was asked that this procedure be reversed.

As late as 1950, problems arose with the sirens. The phone company asked to have the calls routed through the Sheriff's Department, because in the event of a fire, the phone lines were tied up for 10 minutes or more. Thus, a coded siren was asked for.

To jump forward in time a bit, in 1950, a request was made that the siren be sounded for drill night. The problem with this was that people would call in to ask where the fire was. Thus, an advertisement was taken in the newspapers and requested people not to call in on drill night.

The ad was taken out and it was reported that 83 calls were received on the first drill night that the siren was used. The village board notified the fire company that the siren would not be used on drill night any longer.

In 1951, the village bought a coded siren and the panel was installed in the Warren County Sheriff's Office, but the siren was on the village hall roof. At this time, 1951, the fire bell was removed from the roof of the old Fire Station/Village Hall. With the purchase of the coded siren and rerouting of the calls to the Warren County Sheriff's Office, the procedures we follow today were established and started to grow.

Actually, the end of the 1920s and the early 1930s established our amalgam­ation with the Town of Lake George. Consider the years 1929 to 1930 as a turning point into launching Lake George Fire Department as we know it today.

A new American LaFrance pumper was added, the fire district was enlarged to include the town, the name of the fire department was changed and the membership was upped to forty men in the department.

On June 17, 1929, a resolution was passed from the town and village stating that. . .

In the event the Village of Lake George purchases a pumper, that they enter into a contract with the Fire District of the Town of Caldwell to furnish the pumper and fire equipment of the Village of Lake George for the sum of $3,000.00 per year for a term of 5 years.

On February 17, 1930, since there was now 2 pieces of fire equipment to man, and a larger fire district, including the Town of Caldwell, the fire department resolved to enlarge their membership to forty members.

On March 10, 1930 , it was also resolved to rename the fire company as the Lake George Fire Company, with a membership not to exceed forty. Also, it was resolved as of March 11,1929 that residents of the "Fire District" established by the Town Board of Caldwell are authorized to become members of said fire department. This stayed in effect until February 1952, when the membership was increased to 5 members at which point, it stands to the present day. There was a waiting list at this time.

It was during this time period that the very origin of the activity we know of as the Family Festival in August was established. On August 27, 1928 , at a village meeting, there was "much informal discussion," relative to the use of the Shepard Park by the firemen. The word "Carnival" was used and was looked at with great disfavor as it gave an unfavorable impression and it was intended to be a fair and a family event. Some objected as it might ruin the grass in the park.

After the discussion, the dates August 29, 30, 31 and September 1 were asked for; over one-half of the members of the department were present. Permission was finally given and the Family Festival was born.

In returning to the question of the fire equipment, it was not until May 1937 that a new truck was needed and was asked for. Through the years from 1929 to 1959, with 30 years of service, the LaFrance worked steadily. In 1959, it was sold to Thurman, where it did yeoman service again.

However, back to 1937. Fire Chief Henry Finkle appeared and stated to t village board . . . that the fire department recommends purchasing a Sank Truck, made in Syracuse, New York, priced at $6,000.00. There was much discussion, but the Sanford was purchased and delivered on October 1,1937 before 2:00 p.m. Not all was well because in May, 1939, Trustees Sisson and Pharmer asked the village clerk to contact the Sanford Company and tell them that the truck did not operate in a satisfactory manner and did not want the tax payers to foot the bill to put the truck back into good shape. By August 1939, a bill was received from Sanford and was not paid nor was it ever paid.

The time period through the 1930s and 40s was punctuated with all sorts of activity. Some of historic value, some of not-so-historic value, but humorous and some of it if looked at in today's light, would force us not to take ourselves so seriously.

From the village notes of this time period, we have on May 12,1930 the first mention of delegates to a state fire convention consisting of Chief Sullivan and Arthur Knight to go to Utica for the New York State Fire Convention. On April 11, 1932 , an attempt was made to establish a fire chief's salary. The amount was $300.00 per year. The idea was carried, but never seemed to fly.

On April 30, 1934, a motion was made to reimburse firemen for clothing lost or destroyed at a fire. This was sent to the village attorney for consideration. Again, nothing seemed to come of this until a later date.

We started entering the modern day and, Chief Sullivan approached the village to have the station locked.

Nineteen thirty-four seemed to end with an ominous note for our company. On December 17. 1934, Mr. John Bryant spoke on the matte rules of the fire company being broken at fires. What rules these were we see in the next statement as he cautions that... all members of the fire company stay sober at fires.

Chief Sullivan interrupted to say he can and will handle the situation in future.

On April 20, 1936, the village minutes . . . keys were made for each firer and also items that were paid for by the fire company but should be paid for by the village were listed. It was interesting . . .

• Lunch for firemen at Halls' boat fire—$56.55
• Keys made for each man—$ 10.00
• Cover for pool tables-$31.25

The Mayor told Mr. Parsons, the presenter of this bill that the village board will give serious consideration to the matters.

The ugly demon of the "lifesaver bottle" arose again in 1936—Chief Sullivan went before the village board to explain that if anyone was drunk at the Hubbard fire, it was afterwards. The village clerk would write a letter demanding that if any fireman were drunk on duty, he should be removed from the company.

We cannot close out the first fifty years without acknowledging the Ladies Auxiliary. A 1939 blurb in a local paper states "The Officers of the Woman’s Auxiliary of the Lake George Fire Department will complete plans today for the first annual banquet, which will take place in the Worden Hotel, where election of officers will take place. Ruth Monroe is president; Ruth Blair, vice-president; Dorothy George, secretary; S. Schermerhorn, treasurer; Jesse Finkle, publicity chairman and Ada Norton, refreshments chairman.

It is significant that as we leave some of these tidbits of history and head into the next fifty years, we see just how much the company and Lake George grew.

to be continued...