Community Vol. Fire Company No. 1

1918 -2009

91 Years of Dedicated Service

It all began with the ringing of church bells on a blustery winter morning not long after the end of 1917.  

Wayne was then a small, rural community of about 300 people. Bucks ran freely in the township's wooded hills, and New York was several hours away, even by motorcar.

 It was Sunday. The faithful were attending church. Suddenly the tolling of bells interrupted the repose of the services to proclaim a fire.  

A small blaze, not much more than a square foot in size, had been discovered in the roof of the old Mead homestead, a three-story brick and clapboard structure that stood on the site of the Old Mountainview School and now occupied by the Ramapo Bank on Mountainview Blvd.

One or two buckets of water would have extinguished the fire, were it not for the fact that there was no way of reaching the steep roof.

  Wayne had no fire equipment whatsoever. The nearest fire company was in Little Falls.

 The house was large and well constructed and burned agonizingly slow. Neighbors were successful in moving the furniture and personal effects, but were helpless to halt the progress of the blaze.

 The lone Little Falls fire truck, which carried an unimpressive 30 gallons of water, sped to the scene, but arrived too late to be of any use. The house was lost.

 The fire became the topic of conversation in Wayne, as people spoke of their helplessness in fighting fires, of the danger of brush fire started by sparks from steam locomotives, for such fires, fanned by the wind and raging out of control, had been known to destroy barns and houses.

 A group of young people who, for want of entertainment, often rented Clark 's Hall for dancing, became particularly interested in the fire problem, so interested, in fact, that a committee of three was appointed to study the possibility of forming a fire company.

 Those three - Ed Sears, Harry Mumford and E. O. Hubert - found the response overwhelming.

Soon Wayne 's first fire company, Community Co. 1, was born.

 The company organized on a purely voluntary basis and with no help from the local government, faced scores of problems in welding itself into an operational fire-fighting unit.

 The company's first piece of apparatus was a hand-drawn hose carrier discarded from a railroad, 50 feet of hose from an industrial building, and an old hand pump salvaged from a junk pile.

 Le Grand Parish, the man for whom the street was named, donated the land on which the first firehouse was built, and on which the present firehouse now stands. Built of cedar logs, Wayne 's first fire station was completed on March 1, 1919.  

Parish actually deeded the land to the Community Club, the organization which financed the fire company. In fact, to be a fireman, one had first to be a member of the club.

 The company now had a firehouse, but no fire truck. To the rescue came Parish, who donated his old Alco touring car, which was duly converted into a vehicle bearing only coincidental resemblance to a fire truck. It was painted red and was equipped with a bell from a locomotive, a few helmets, 200 ft of hose and a new four-man pump. Mechanically, it did not permit the mounting of a pump to be operated by the car's engine.  

Firemen obtained discarded locomotive wheel rims and installed them throughout the township as an alarm system.  

Dancing was the principle activity and source of income of the club. Public dances were held every weekend, and meals were served by the fireman's wives. It was not uncommon to clear $700 on a weekend.  

From 1918 to 1920 Community Co. 1 was the only fire company in Wayne . It also answered fires in Lincoln Park , Fairfield and Towaco.  

After such an enthusiastic launching, Community Co. 1 faced many crises through the years and initiated improvements for the township as well as the area.  

The fund-raising Saturday night dances grew like wild fire and Le Grande Parish erected a large hall and kitchen near the outgrown log cabin and firehouse. A retired Paterson fire captain was hired as caretaker to be on duty at night, living above the firehouse.  

Awakened by smoke on night in December 1922, he found the hallway in flames and jumped out a window. Flames prevented the caretaker from reaching the fire truck. The building was lost due to lack of water supply.

While the building was destroyed, the company fortunately had ample insurance, and the insurance money, together with money saved during the prosperous years, permitted the company to erect a new building on the same site and to purchase a new fire truck.

In 1928, Frank Aikman, a captain of Co. #1, spearheaded the organization of the North Jersey Volunteer Firemen's Association to promote efficiency in fire fighting through competition. This organization grew from the four original companies to more than 100 and is a power in local and state legislation.

 In 1930, through the hard work of many firemen and other interested citizens, the residents of Wayne approved in a referendum the construction of a water system for the township.  

In the summer of 1940 saw an encore of the 1922 disaster: the social portion of the building had been rented for a wedding and was later found in flames. Although the building was immediately rebuilt, more hardship followed on the heels of the fire, as the failure to meet interest payment forced the Community Club to disband. The fire company was able, however, to retain control of the newly rebuilt fire station.  

It became increasingly difficult to keep the company financially solvent. By state law a township could only allow a volunteer company $400 a year. The company owed $800 on a new fire truck, which was in danger of being repossessed. At that critical hour the men went door to door seeking help and raised more then they owed.  

Community was instrumental in the organization of the Wayne Township Firemen’s Relief Association to aid firemen in the event of hardship or death. The men, thought the years, have also supported drives to aid residents who were in need.  

In the 1960's and through the mid to late 1970's, the Recreation center was available to the community. The company sponsored Boy Scout Troop 105, and in association the local American Legion, the Wayne Cadet and later the Monarchs Drum and Bugle Corps.  

Crisis again struck the company on October 16, 1967. Responding to a fire at the construction site of the George Washington School, our pumper was involved in a serious motor vehicle accident which saw the driver of the car and three firemen seriously injured and admitted to the hospital.  

Some time in 1969 a truck committee was formed and another transformation of our firehouse was in the making. A building committee soon followed for the company was purchasing an Aerial Tower Platform Truck. The members, along with a mason, who volunteered his time, built an addition on the front of the firehouse to fit the new Tower inside.  

Another building committee was formed in winter of 1976 to begin plans for the remodeling of our recreation hall. The summer of 1978 saw the beginning of another transformation to our firehouse. By the fall the steel was going in place with a second floor added above the old basketball court/recreation hall, with the stage and ball court being removed. All the work was done by the membership and all the monies used were raised by bingo.  

In the early 1980's we had a modern commercial kitchen added to our hall. In the mid 1980's a drop ceiling with new lighting was installed. In the early 1990's the work continued with the membership installing a new tile floor in the hall, which no longer resembles the recreation hall it once was.

The mid 1990’s saw great changes to the appearance of the firehouse, with the installation of new doors, windows, the exterior of the building being re-stuccoed and the bay door raised in anticipation of our new  “larger” aerial platform.  

In 1996 the township purchased the company a new 105’ Aerial Platform, the first of it’s kind in the northern New Jersey area. This state of the art apparatus was a great improvement for both firefighters as well as the residents of Wayne .  

In 1999 the township purchased the company a new Hummer Mini-Attack Pumper. This specialized piece of apparatus responds to brush fire, vehicle fire and extrications, flood emergencies and off road brush fires.

In 2000 another building committee was formed and plans started for an addition to increase the area where the apparatus are stored. With the anticipation of a new Pumper being purchased in 2002, we are in desperate need of more room.  

In 2001 ground was broken and the addition was started on the new bays. Two State Grants have funded the addition as well as personal donation made by the public. Even know the bulk of the construction has been completed by a General Contractors members have spent countless hours at the firehouse assisting in special projects to better our building addition and bring it to an early completion. 

On September 11, 2001 with the Terrorist Bombing of the World Trade Towers , The Wayne Fire Department, as well as Community Fire Company was mobilized to assist our fallen New York City Firefighters, Police and Emergency Medical Technicians. Members assisted with in station stand by’s, responses with our apparatus and equipment to staging areas to respond to New York City and the actual digging at Ground Zero to assistance in recovering our fallen comrades.  

The building addition has now gone into the year 2002 this has been a hardship since the project has gone over the allowed budget. The fire company has since applied and acquired a Mortgage to assist in the completion.  

In 2001 the company’s 32 active members responded to over 600 fire calls a year while in 1967 we responded to 207 and in 1918 our civic-minded predecessors answered perhaps 2 or 3 alarms.  

Since 1918 the company has continually responded to any emergencies they have been called upon, with modern high tech equipment and highly trained men. Each one is as different as the date and time they occurred. Yet the men that responded all have one thing in common, to save or help someone in their community, unselfishly and dedicated to serve.