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In the past, village centers in our area have been impacted
by major fires. This column describes local fires between 1848 and 1953 that
destroyed multiple structures and dramatically altered the appearance of the
communities when they occurred. The emphasis is on the role of volunteer
firefighters and the obstacles they faced.
Before the early 19th century, the only effort in respond to
fires was spontaneous. Each household was expected to have a fire bucket handy.
When a fire broke out, a bucket brigade was formed and water was passed from a
nearby well or cistern in an attempt to quell the flames.
Slowly, a little more organization and preparation took hold
in firefighting. Private fire companies were organized in larger communities.
In Vermont the first efforts were in cities such as Burlington (1808) and
Montpelier (1814). In New Hampshire, companies appeared in Concord (1807) and
Keene (1808). In some communities there were more than one company.
These were volunteer
organizations with little, if any, support from local governments. Belonging to
these quasi-fraternal companies was considered “a mark of social standing.”
Competitive drills were held between companies, and parades gave volunteers a
chance to show new uniforms and equipment.
Some large local businesses and insurance companies
sponsored fire companies. The Estey Organ Company in Brattleboro and the
Vermont Mutual Fire Insurance Co. of Montpelier are examples.
Larger towns began to provide tax support for equipment and
hose houses. In some cases, volunteers were exempt from poll taxes. In 1852,
Manchester, NH began to pay volunteers $5 a year.
Hose companies deployed
hand or horse-drawn hose carts from hose houses to the scene of fires. The hoses
would be attached to hydrants if there was a municipal water system. If not,
bucket brigades kept water supplied to the handpumps.
About this time, two innovations were introduced. They were
steam-powered engines with greater water pressures and chemical engines. The latter relied on a
soda-acid chemical reaction in the engine that created increased water
pressure.
In the early 20th century, there was a move to a paid
department and motorized hose and ladder trucks in the largest communities.
The following are examples of major local fires and the
impact of firefighting techniques.
On April 19, 1848, a
fire broke out in Haverhill Corner that destroyed a major portion of the
business district on the west side of Main Street.
“The only defense was a long line of men and boys, old and
young, standing in line from the reservoir on the South Common, passing buckets
of water down to the fire.”
Notwithstanding this effort, the fire spread rapidly, fanned
by a strong northerly wind, and was only stopped by tearing away small
adjoining structures, creating a fire barrier.
Eight buildings were destroyed in what was called “one of
the most destructive fires every witnessed in this section of the country.”
One newspaper article suggested that villages needed cisterns
supplied with fresh water and a plan to “procure a good engine with apparatus,
fire hooks, etc.”
In the morning of February 19, 1883, a fire broke out on
Bradford’s Main Street. Described as “the great fire and a terrible
conflagration,” the fire destroyed ten buildings on the west side of the
business district.
There was no municipal water system and the supply of water
was limited. Firemen used a hand pump to get water from cisterns until the
supply was depleted. It was reported
that some even used snow to help suppress the flames.
As was the custom among firefighting in those days, saving
the flaming buildings became secondary to containing the spread of the fire to
other structures. The buildings north of the fire were saved only by being
“enveloped in wet carpets.”
Within two hours, the flames were under control. Only the
fact that the winds calmed save the entire business area from being swept
away.
The United Opinion praised the heroic work of Waitsville
Fire Engine Company firemen. They operated out of the firehouse on South Main
Street. They “worked like heroes and to them in large measure is due the
staying of the flames.” Also mentioned
was the work of Bradford women who helped remove items from threatened
buildings.
Within a year, the brick Union Block and Stevens Block
replaced the destroyed wooden buildings.
However, it was not until 1892 that the newly-formed Village of Bradford
created a municipal water system with hydrants.
On September 26, 1892, a severe lightning storm caused the
worse fire in the history of the village of Wells River.
“A large part of Main Street went up in flames,” reports
recounted. Nine building were consumed, Including the Wells River House, livery
stables and several other commercial buildings. The Wells River Hose Company,
equipped with only a hose cart and supported by a volunteer “pail brigade,”
fought the fire.
The Woodsville Hose
& Ladder Company and the Barnet Fire Company rendered assistance. The
firefighters were hampered by the lack of a water system but helped by the
continuing heavy rain.
The devastation provided a terrible lesson. Within two years
a private water system was created for the village and hydrants were installed.
Efforts were made to enhance the Hose Company with additional equipment.
On December 5, 1912, a fire on the west side of Main Street
destroyed Fairlee’s Opera House, library, and church. The entire town responded
to the urgent ringing of the church bell. With no water system, only hand fire
extinguishers were available against the rapidly developing fire. There was
fear that the fire might spread to the nearby Morey Mountain.
Word was sent to surrounding towns and a total of 150
firefighters finally brought the fire under control. Within days, plans to
rebuild the destroyed buildings began.
The Barre Daily Times editorialized, “One would think that
the loss there of its chief building would cause a village like Fairlee to give
itself sufficient fire protection, and perhaps it will. Likewise, many another
village which has been resting in fancied security about the same as Fairlee
did, apparently”
About 1919, the Fairlee Fire Company was formed and was
gifted a 1914 fire engine. Orford’s fire company had been in existence for
decades and, by 1922, was known as the Orford Chemical Engine Company. The two
neighboring companies supported each other as well as other area towns.
An example of this cooperation occurred in November 1922
when the United Opinion building on Bradford’s Main Street caught fire.
Initially, it looked as though this fire would do to the east side of the
street what the 1883 fire had done to the west side.
The alarm brought a quick response from the local hose
company, who together with volunteers, fought the flames. Outside assistance
was called for and the Orford and Fairlee Chemical Companies responded.
At one time, the local company had four streams of water on
different parts of the building. The Chemical Companies’ efforts confined the
flames to the single building. At the
time, successes were few and far between.
“The ‘great conflagration” that destroyed the center of
Newbury village on June 14, 1913 was one of the most devastating fires in the
area’s history. Beginning in a
blacksmith shop, the fire, fanned by brisk winds, spread to adjacent buildings.
The village was without a water system and “totally
unprepared to cope with so large a fire.” The United Opinion’s coverage of the
fire described how, “the men fought valiantly but had practically no weapons
that were adequate. While men were fighting the fire away from their own homes,
they would turn and see these same homes burning fiercely, so rapidly did the
fire spread. For a time, it appeared as
if the entire village might be destroyed.”
The fire destroyed
over 25 structures on the Newbur yCommon and along the adjacent streets. The
historic Methodist church was saved when horses were used to pull away the
adjoining wooden sheds. There was help from neighboring towns, “but the
reinforcements arrived only to stand by as helpless.”
The newspaper went on, “When the buildings are again
restored, it is safe to say that Newbury will have a town water system before
many years.” In August, rebuilding had begun to replace the destroyed
buildings.
Although the need for a reliable water source was
recognized, it was several years before a system was created with a storage
reservoir and a series of hydrants appropriately spaced throughout the
village.
The volunteers began to develop a fire department with
equipment and a hose house. By 1919, five hose houses were placed around the
village.
No community has been more permanently affected by fire than
the village of West Fairlee. At the turn of the 20th century, it was a
“bustling place, with several general stores, a hotel, a drug store, a jeweler
and a several large commercial blocks. This activity was in major part due to
the nearby copper mines.
Three fires between
1908 and 1917 caused most of those buildings to disappear with few
replacements. “West Fairlee Burned” was the headline in The Opinion report on
the fire of September 29, 1908 night. “It was a hard fire for that little
village as it completely wiped out the business portion of the place.”
West Fairlee had no organized fire department, little or no
water, and no fire apparatus, so all that could be done was to let the fire
burn itself out. Four companies from neighboring towns responded to the call
for help, but arrived too late.
On September 25 of the following year, a second fire started
in the Whitney Block and spread along Main Street. There was still no organized
fire protection. In 1917, a third fire destroyed the Eastman block and two residences. While some buildings were built on the vacant
lots, the face of West Fairlee village was changed forever. The lessons of
having inadequate fire protection were learned, and in 1921, a volunteer fire
company was organized.
No community was safe from disastrous fires. On September 6,
1934, a fire destroyed Piermont’s library and Gould’s store and damaged several
residencies.
Five departments from surrounding towns responded to assist
the Piermont volunteers. By the time the Fairlee and Bradford Chemical
Companies arrived the fire in the library building was out of control. South
Ryegate and Warren companies also came, but too late. A pumper from Hanover,
using water from the nearby stream, “was largely responsible for checking the
flames.”
The first newspaper mention of a Piermont fire department
was in 1936. In the years after that,
the department responded to calls for help in the several of the communities
that had helped them in 1934.
“Fire Sweeps Bradford In the Worst Disaster on Record” was
the headline that described the blaze that gutted the east side of Bradford’s
business district on December 17, 1947. Six businesses, including three grocery
stores, were destroyed in the section north of the Post Office, now the
Colatina Exit. High winds fanned the blaze.
The Bradford Fire Company responded to the alarm and was
aided by departments from Wells River, Piermont, North Haverhill, Woodsville,
and Fairlee. When the Hanover Department arrived, their highly-trained
personnel were given charge of the combined efforts. Even high school students
on their way to school, were pressed into service, pulling hoses.
The out-of-town firefighters were delayed in using their
hose because the Bradford hydrants did not have standard-size connectors. Four
lines of hose to the Waits River pumped water on the flames. The newspaper reported, “It was with
superhuman strength that the firemen were able to stop the flames” short of the
Post Office and the rest of the business district. “Down But Not Out” was the familiar refrain
as plans were quickly made to rebuild the destroyed buildings.
On Friday, July 31, 1953, a fire broke out that threatened
to wipe out the village of Waits River. The fire started in the Flint Brother’s
Bobbin mill along the north side of the Waits River. A “gusty wind” sent the
fire up the hill to envelope the general store and threat the nearby church.
As the village had no fire company, equipment from
neighboring towns augmented by a privately-owned engine from East Orange and
passing motorists fought the blaze. Workers at mills in Bradford and East
Corinth were released to join the fight.
Embers spread forest and grass fires several miles away.
The Waits River fire was an expensive lesson, but without
it, public interest might never have been aroused sufficiently to enable the
Tri-Village Fire Association to become a reality.
Hundreds of local
individual structures have been destroyed by fire in the past 250 years. Some
have been important business or public buildings; others have been homes or
barns.
What is essential to the fires mentioned above is that there
was no loss of life. What is to be recalled is that, in most cases, towns
people rallied to support those who suffered loss. They also supported the
development of modern fire companies.
What is to be celebrated is that many looked beyond the immediate
disaster to rebuild their village centers. They learned from lessons, hard
learned.
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