North Queensbury Fire Co.
On Lake George
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North Queensbury Fire Co.
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HISTORY OF THE NORTH QUEENSBURY VOLUNTEER FIRE COMPANY, INC.
Click here The first meeting to organize the North
Queensbury Volunteer Fire Company was held in the old District #5 schoolhouse on upper
Ridge Road on September 24, 1948. The meeting was attended by the following 18 men. Douglas Webster Dean Howland Elmer Wood Edward Williamson Percy Denton Junior Ralph Hill Sr. Donald Crawford Walter Snyder Murray Crannell Ralph Been Alfred Van Horne Raymond Walkup Fred Durkee Ralph Hill Jr Henry Osterhoudt Neal Schoonover Scott McLaughlin Fred Vaughn The Fire District was decided upon & a set of by-laws was drawn up. At the third meeting 11 more members were signed up: Leander Dickinson Robert Cleghorn Walter Phelps John Brewster Claude Ward Gordon Webster Henry Chenier Arthur Mead Ernest Pratt Erwin Bardin Irving Keyworth At the October 14th meeting the following new members were signed up Kenneth Frazier William Henderson Floyd Clemons Robert Rider W.H Cowan Richard Howland Howard Lockhart Irwin Crumley An offer by Robert LaPan to donate a 50X100 piece of land was accepted. At the October 21st meeting another 10 men signed up: Wesley Benware Albert Lockhart Harry Clark Harry Pulver Arthur Norton Allison Ellsworth Fred Alexy John Beals Luther Waldron Chauncey Haight
The first permanent officers were elected at the President: Ralph Been Vice President: Leander Dickinson Secretary: Henry Osterhoudt Treasurer: Alger Mason Director: Fred Vaughn Director: Vernon West Director: Dean Howland Director: Douglas Webster Director: William Henderson Director: Arthur Freelove Chief: Robert LaPan Asst Chief: Willaim Brenm A building
committee was appointed & plans to acquire a 1916 American LaFrance
fire engine owned by Granville A. Beals of Assembly Point and keep it in Al Van
Horne’s garage until a firehouse was built. Doctor
Francis Lukes, Forest ranger Owen Kane, Granville Beals & George Seeley were elected
honorary members. Ground was
broken November 1st, 1948 for a 30 X 35 cement block building from plans drawn
by J. Arthur Norton. The first
alarm was answered Sunday, October 24th to a brush fire on Assembly Point. That
same night a second call was answered. Drills
were held regularly in conformance with state law. The
firehouse was nearly completed April 22nd, 1949 and the first meeting in the
new firehouse was held.. The firehouse was built by the members, themselves, under the
direction of a hired foreman. In 1949 a Dodge power wagon was
acquired & equipped with a 500 gallon per minute pump, tank, hose and fire fighting
equipment. In 1955 a Ford
600 gallon per minute pumper was purchased. The
original LaFrance engine was kept in reserve and to this day is still in running &
pumping order & used in local parades. In 1955 the
firehouse was widened to twice its original width and a second story
added in 1962. An annual smorgasbord dinner
was held at the firehouse to finance purchase of equipment and the second story was
utilized to advantage to accommodate these dinners. The entire membership would work for a
week in preparation and we would make ALMOST $1000.00 for the effort. In 1955
during a fire then Chief Douglas Webster and his brother Gordon were both stung by bees.
Both men were allergic and had to be hospitalized. In
1958 Chief Webster was again stung while repairing a water line at Hayward
cottages and this time died from the
reaction. In 1949
equipment was acquired and a rescue squad was formed as a part of the Company. The first
ambulance was acquired in 1959 and replaced in 1961. Needless to say these vehicles were
far from new but served our purposes well. Ralph Hill Sr. Was the first Rescue Squad
Captain and served many years as a dedicated first-aider. Today the Rescue Squad is a
separate but associated organization and the training and abilities make the members
proficient at their skills and many lives have been saved by their efforts. Many of the
members participate in both firefighting and rescue squad work. The Fire Company often
assists the Rescue Squad in emergency situations such as motor vehicle accidents and
water, ice or mountain rescues. Over the
years many more members served the Company as firefighters and rescue squad members
putting many hours into training and responding to emergency calls. Often calls come
during the night, during storms or other inopportune times but the volunteers are always
ready to drop whatever they’re doing to do their duty. In the late
1980s many changes were taking place in the firefighting industry. Organizations such as
OSHA began tightening regulations and making new rulings that seriously affected the way
things were done. Mandatory equipment, schooling, training and methods were being revised
& becoming more complicated. Paper work, reports and record keeping became a major
operation. Computers were coming into usage and were becoming necessity rather than a
convenience. Rules were set up on what a firefighter must wear when fighting fires &
emergencies. In the early
1990s it became obvious that our present firehouse was not only inadequate but did not
meet OSHA and other mandates. We negotiated for a piece of adjoining property and finally
made acquisition. After coming to a standstill on design for a new building the Company
finally selected Richard Jones & Associates as the architect to design the new firehouse. Peter Carr, Peter Frederick & Jim Schoonover
with secretary Vern Burkhart taking notes started meeting with the architect early in
1993, meeting almost weekly until in August 1993 plans were finalized. Construction
started shortly and work progressed during the winter with completion early in 1994. For
the next several months finishing touches & some revisions were performed to bring the
building up to its present state of usefulness. Since that
time new trucks have been added, a rubber boat for water rescue, a 6 wheel drive for
mountain rescue and a hovercraft for ice rescues have been housed in the new firehouse.
The members have gone through courses in various types of rescue operations & are
proficient in procedures involved. Rope rescue equipment, Jaws of Life and other
specialized equipment are in regular use and have been credited with saving of lives.
There have been times when our volunteers have put their own lives at risk in order to
save someone in peril. Our Fire Company cooperates with other Companies in the district
through a Mutual Aid plan. These Companies cooperated during the ice storm emergency in
the northern part of the state several winters ago. Trucks, generators and volunteers
spent time there working with their own services to help the area resume normality. With the help and contributions of neighbors the North Queensbury Volunteer Fire Company will continue to operate and serve the community with its valuable services. We are always looking for new members to assist in a very humanitarian cause. The dedication of our members is something only understood by those who have needed our services or have seen them in action.
Click here This page is compliments of our long time secretary Vern Burkhart
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