“Shall we have a hook and ladder co.?” asked “A Native” in an 1886 East Hampton Star letter to the editor. “Your village has never suffered seriously from the ravages of the fire-fiend,” the letter warned. A year later, William S. Everett built East Hampton’s first hook and ladder truck, launching the journey of the East Hampton Fire Department, which celebrates its 125th anniversary this year.
“A Native” would be proven prescient when the “fire-fiend” struck along what is now Route 114, between East Hampton and Sag Harbor, in 1891. Hearing the church bell ring, locals rallied, seemingly stopping the fire before it grew large. The flames, however, continued to simmer, unbeknownst to the impromptu firefighters.
The next morning, as the fire regrew, the church bell rang again. Large groups of men made their way to “Hardscrabble” — now Hardscrabble Court — which was determined to be the source of the fire. The newly formed hook and ladder company arrived on Hardscrabble Court to assist the residents.
“Numerous rabbits, squirrels, raccoons, and other forest animals could be seen running out of the woods, some of them looking as though they had been to the barbershop,” read the 1891 East Hampton Star article about the fire.
The fire crept its way south to Georgica Pond, east to Buell Lane, and northwest along Route 114. In the end, it burned one-fifth — or 4,000 acres — of the woodland in East Hampton, causing $20,000 worth of damage. The fire was the largest “in the remembrance of the oldest inhabitant” of East Hampton, according to the article.
Residents voted for the first fire commissioner in July 1899, officially forming the Maidstone Fire District of East Hampton, which became the East Hampton Fire District in 1920. The measure was not without controversy, though, as vocal opponents contended that the district would not cover all localities due to limitations in the water mains.
The fire whistle blew on Decoration Day — now Memorial Day — in 1907, when a fire erupted from Libert’s Barber Shop on Main Street, eventually burning down the barber shop and G.A. Howard’s new grocery store. “The firemen got every available foot of hose into action and a dozen streams were played upon the buildings,” The Star recounted after the blaze. The firemen saved the post office, stopping the fire as it started burning through the building.
Seven years later, “The most disastrous fire that the people of East Hampton have ever witnessed, occurred here Saturday at midnight, when the large livery stables owned by Strong Bros. . . . were leveled to ground by fire,” reads a 1916 Star story.
This time, the firefighters were unable to stop the fire, but it left $30,000 worth of damage in its wake. A few days later, police arrested Grant Griffith — “who is widely known as a bad character” — on a charge of first-degree arson. After confessing “every detail of his preparation,” Mr. Griffith was sentenced to over 30 years at Sing Sing Correctional Facility.
The Maidstone Fire District purchased its first “chemical engine,” produced by American LaFrance, in March 1917. The fire engine was painted English vermilion, with black stripes, and featured two 25-gallon chemical tanks, a 150-foot hose, and a 16-foot extension ladder.
“Another feature of this car is that all fires will be quickly reached and that outlying districts will receive nearly the same protection as those near the fire station,” The Star wrote about the new firetruck.
Later that year, firefighters christened a firehouse, which was approved in a 1916 special election, on Newtown Lane in the building now occupied by Gucci. Above the Gucci logo, “Maidstone Fire District” is still engraved in white. In the bottom left, another engraving reads “1917,” the year the original firehouse was built. In 1964, the fire department moved to its current location on Cedar Street.
A fire at the J.E. Gay & Company building nearly destroyed the village clerk’s records in 1937. The J.E. Gay & Company building, built in 1886, housed the village clerk, a blacksmith, a furniture painter, and a real estate office. Firemen from East Hampton and Amagansett stopped the fire before it spread to other buildings, saving the clerk’s records in the process.
“Well, it’s changed quite a bit,” Sherrill Dayton, a 63-year veteran of the department, said last week. “You can’t keep it the old way because things get stagnant. We still do a pretty good job and we’ve got a good crew.” Mr. Dayton is part of Company 5 in the East Hampton Fire Department, which was founded in 1927 to fight forest fires.
“All we need is the manpower. We’ve got everything else to go with it,” said Mr. Dayton. With the cost-of-living increases in the area, the department has had difficulty recruiting young volunteers. “We can’t go flying into burning buildings like we used to,” Mr. Dayton said, referring to the other longtime firefighters seated with him, David H. Brown, Bill Bennett, and Kenny Brown. The fire department is always looking for fresh volunteers.
“Some of the things we did back then, you can’t do today,” said David H. Brown, a former chief who has been with the department for 58 years. Mr. Brown did not attend fire school when he joined. Now, volunteers must enroll in dozens of instructional and hands-on classes to become firefighters. Mr. Brown was the only member of his high school class to join the department immediately after graduation.
As the fire department changed over time, so did the rules. Now, volunteers aren’t allowed to ride on the back of the firetruck. Mr. Dayton remembered a French volunteer firefighter who would dangle his hands and feet off the back of the truck shouting “Vive la France! Vive la France!” as the truck approached raging fires.
Today, the East Hampton Fire Department has 150 volunteer members. These men and women protect 31 square miles of land, home to 8,000 to 10,000 year-round residents, according to the department. Along with the main station on Cedar Street, the fire department operates substations at the East Hampton Airport and on Old Northwest Road near Stephen Hand’s Path.
The fire department will celebrate its 125th anniversary with a parade on July 27 at 10 a.m. on Main Street. After the parade the department will host a celebration at Herrick Park, with food, kids’ activities, music, and antique firetrucks.
Firefighters with over 50 years of service will act as grand marshals at the parade. Accordingly, Mr. Dayton, Mr. David H. Brown, Mr. Kenny Brown, and Mr. Bennett will hold that honor.
“May the quiet old village never suffer (as some villages have) from destructive fires,” concludes that 1886 letter to the editor. East Hampton has certainly seen its fair share of bad fires since then, but for 125 years and counting it’s had the East Hampton Fire Department to help protect it.
