HISTORY OF CHELSEA FIRE DEPARTMENT
EARLY CHELSEA FIRE DEPARTMENT
Through the ages mankind has learned to respect fire, both as
a useful companion and as a ruthless destroyer. Man has learned,
sometimes tragically, what measures to confine fire for his needs and
how to fight and extinguish it when it goes beyond bounds.
Chelsea's first tool for fire fighting was the leather fire
bucket. Upon hearing an alarm of fire, whether by bell or vocal, all
members of the family would grab a bucket and join the bucket
brigade, passing water to be used on the fire. Reservoirs of water
were set at various locations throughout the town for the purpose of
containing fire. Another tool used at the fire was the pull down
hook, an iron hook attached to a chain or rope to pull the house down
to prevent the spread of fire. A third tool was a swab for smothering
roof fires. Ladders were also placed at various locations in the town.
In 1834, Mr. Hanscomb built a wheel-wright shop on Park
Street, Chelsea Square. {All buildings on this section of Park Street
from Williams to Winnisimmet Street, were moved in later years, to
widen Chelsea Square}. Mr. Hanscomb's building was the first building
in the Ferry Village to burn. The wind was blowing strong from the
northwest on the morning of the fire. The building and contents were
so combustible that it burned rapidly. The wind carried sparks and
embers over most of the Village. Chelsea did not posses an engine at
that time, but Engine #15 and crew came over from Boston and
proceeded to put the fire out.
After this fire, the citizens of the town agreed it was time
to have a fire engine in the Village. In 1835, a fire engine was
purchased from Hunneman of Roxbury at a cost of $1071.20. A lot of
land was leased from the Ferry Company, directly opposite Second
Street in Chelsea Square. A house was built at a cost of $650.00.
When the engine arrived in the Village it was cause for a
celebration. A huge procession went to the Ferry to receive the
engine followed by a capacity test for playing a good stream. A
collation followed all this. Donations were then taken to purchase a
bell, the first ever used as a fire alarm in the town.
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This photo is the old Hose #3 of the Chelsea Fire Department, then located on Shurtleff Street, the site of the present Shurtleff School. In the photo are George Smith, the driver of the vehicle, and Prince, who did most of the work going to fires. When Mr. Smith took Prince out for exercise, he never failed to pass Lunt's Bake Shop at the corner of Maverick and Shawmut Sts. Prince would go up on the sidewalk and wait for Miss Sadie Hill, who was employed there, to come out and feed him cakes. |
About two o'clock on a Sunday morning late in 1849, the Engine #l house caught fire. The house burned rapidly and the fire gained great headway before being discovered. The engine and the house were heavily damaged. The town voted to build a new house with a new Engine #l next to the Park Street School (location of Police Station}.
The burned remains of the old Engine #l were dug out of the ruins and repaired at a cost of $679. 75 and placed in a leased house. The new engine was ready before the new house was finished and kept on the lower floor of a nearby paint shop.
After the destruction of Stephen Sibley's laundry in 1843, Mr. Sibley bought the building. The upper floor was made into a hall while the rest of the building was used for a laundly with a paper stationery company in the basement. Early one morning in 1848 fire struck again. With a gale force wind from the northeast, the building was soon fullly involved in flames. Many homes were threatened when rolls of burning paper were carried in the high wind over a huge portion of the Village landing on roofs and on the Naval Hospital grounds. Some people, blocks away from the fire, began moving their furniture out of their home, preparing to evacuate. Had the wind shifted more inland Chelsea's first conflagration would have occurred at a much earlier point in history.
CHELSEA FIRE DEPARTMENT FORMATION
In the early days of Chelsea, before fire engines of any description,
at the outbreak of fire people would have only their leather buckets
and prayer to depend upon.
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This gave way to the romantic age of the volunteer fireman and the hand drawn "water machine."
A time when men were men and who needed horses? During the
1830s, Chelsea experienced a transformation from a small sparsely
settled farm village to a growing town.
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In 1834 Chelsea's first serious fire occurred in Hanscomb's wheelwright shop in Broadway Chelsea Square. Chelsea did not have an engine at the time, but Boston Engine #l5 came and assisted in controlling the fire. It was after this fire that Chelsea procured its first hand drawn engine, the original Chelsea Engine #l and built a house for it in Chelsea Square. |
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Fire Hand Pump on Central Avenue. |
Chronologically listed are the purchases toward creating a fire department. Chelsea purchased a second hand engine in 1837 for $150.00. A company called "Volunteer #2" was formed and put in a house on Park Street. In 1842 the town bought some ladders and placed them in convenient places in the village for use in case of fire. The following year a hook-and-ladder carriage was purchased, ladders were placed on it, and it was quartered in Engine #2's house. The same year, 1843, a new engine was purchased to replace Engine #2's second hand piece bought six years before. The old second hand piece was sold in 1846. A new engine was purchased in 1846 and put in the charge of a volunteer company located on Central Avenue near Shurtleff Street, the Shurtleff School site today.
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Each engine company was comprised of forty five men. When an alarm sounded, the firefighter would have to run from his home to the firehouse. The men would line up on the two poles and at a run, praying no man would stumble, drag the heavy engine to the scene of the fire. At the fire the men would labor at the brakes, ten men to a brake, two brakes to an engine, pumping until the fire was out. Most of the fires occurred in the night-time and a majority in bitter winter weather. These men would be exhausted and drenched to the bone. To the few undisciplined, alcohol became a welcome and warming stimulant.
Until the introduction of domestic water in 1868, water for fire was supplied by reservoirs and cisterns placed in various parts of the city. By 1868 there were twenty two reservoirs holding between 20,000 and 40,000 gallons of water. In 1850, by an agreement with Boston, the Cochituate water main was extended up Broadway to and along Williams Street and part way up Marginal Street with eight hydrants attached for use by the fire department only. A new hook-and-ladder truck was purchased in 1850 to replace the old one bought in 1843. The American Hose Company #l was organized and located in the house with the reorganized Engine #2 and the new hook-and-ladder company.
In 1853 Chelsea built the town hall on the corner of Central Avenue and Shurtleff Street, the Shurtleff School site today. Engine #4 fire station had to be moved to Shurtleff Street opposite Maverick Street. Native #3 was purchased in 1853 and was placed in a new house at 7 Carmel Street near Washington Avenue. In 1855, while fighting a fire in Boston, Engine #2 was nearly destroyed. The engine was completely rebuilt by Boston.
In 1857 the new city charter established a fire department in Chelsea, repealing the Act of 1843 accepted by the town. The composition of the new department was set up in the new charter. In 1860 steam was introduced to the Chelsea Fire Department with the purchase of "Chelsea" steamer #l. Old hand Engines #2 and #4 were disbanded and eventually sold. The steamer required a company of only twelve men replacing ninety men, forty-five for each hand engine company.
Originally, Steamer #1, Engine No. 1 built in 1871 is located on Park Street. It was later closed and is now a dry cleaners. (1898 photo).
This 1898 photo shows the Engine No. 2 fire station on Forsyth St. This location was later the site of the Carter School which burned down in 1972. It is now the Carter Heights apartment complex.
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Engine No. 3 - Broadway (1898 Photo) |
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Combination Hose No. 4 - Sagamore Ave. Prattville. |
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R. S. Frost Hose No. 1 Built in the late 1860's and destroyed in the
fire of 1908 (1898 Photo) |
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Old Engine 5 Station on the corner of Fourth St. and Everett Avenue. Later became Engine 1 for a few years and was closed. |
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Engine #4 - Sagamore Ave. 1931 |
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New Prattville Fire Station - Sagamore Ave. |
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Chemical No. 1 and Hook and Ladder No. 1 |
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In 1897 when the Engine #3 station on Broadway near Webster Ave. was first opened, "Bige" Smith was the driver and is shown here. He and firefighters John "Patsy" Grover and "Gil" Brown were the first three members assigned to the new station. |
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Central Fire Station - located on Chestnut Street and City Hall Ave. Built to replace one of the two fire stations destroyed in the 1908 fire. (1910 Photo) |
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This 1910 photo shows the new Engine 5 station on the corner of Fourth and Everett Ave. It was built for $40,000 and is situated on the lot of land previously occupied by the Frank B. Fay School which was destroyed in the 1908 fire. |
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Engine 4 Station - Prattville, on Sagamore Ave. |
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Hose #4 House Sagamore Ave. - Prattville - May 1911 |
Chelsea Engine 4 Station on Sagamore Ave. in Prattville. Left to right are Robert Cobb, Lt. John Doherty, Lt. Frank Delaney, Capt. John Fothergil, Dennis Williams, Unknown, Jack Wall.