The Au Sable Forks Volunteer Fire Department was organized on June 29, 1878 with George Calhoun being the first Chief Officer. It was comprised of three companies;
Graves Hose Company #1, Engine Company #2 and Adirondack Hook and Ladder Company #3. The companies all had horse drawn carts for apparatus. had a cart with two hooks; one a ladder with a hook on the end for rescue purposes and the othe
r being a pole with a hook for pulling walls down. Each member of the Hose Company owned a bucket. At fires they would form a bucket brigade and carry water from a nearby stream or river and throw it on the fire. Later on the Hose Company acquired a wagon with a water pump which was operated by members lining up on both sides of the wagon and manually operating the pump. The water was being supplied to this wagon by using the bucket brigade, but instead of throwing the water on the fire from the buckets, it was poured into the large opening on the top and was forced out the end of a hose. This allowed the water to be used more effectively. Around the turn of the century, Henry G. Rogers became the Chief of the Fire Department and had as its first main piece of fire fighting equipment, a Model "T" Ford truck with a 150 gallon water tank on the bed. This truck was donated to the department by the J&J Rogers Company. The tank was filled with water and had a soda-and-acid mixture for propellant. The truck also had a 100 foot rubber hose for fighting the fires. Soon after the department had a pump station built in the river, behind where the Grand Union currently is located. The pump station was built so that water could be pumped to a dry hydrant near the bridge on Main Street, in the middle of town. The Model "T" was housed in a shed next to the pump station. This was the ONLY fire protection in the town when 32 buildings on main street were completely destroyed by the FIRE of 1925. On May 14, 1925 a devastating fire raged through Au Sable Forks. It began in"Candy Land" on Main Street and completely engulfed buildings along Main Street, Pleasant Street, and Forge Street. A total of 29 businesses, two churches, and 58 homes were destroyed. The fire also claimed the life of a Plattsburgh City Fireman who fell down an elevator shaft, Frank Lefebone. After this devastating fire, the Fire Department reorganized and Dr. Joseph M. Scott was the new Chief, which status he held until 1967. The first Fire Station was located in Pattno's Garage on East Forge Street. In 1930 a two bay concrete and brick station was built on West Forge Street, next to where the Post Office currently is. The station housed the department until 1973, when the fire department moved to the old high school building. The Fire District purchased the old Band, Art and Shop rooms from the A.V.C.S. which had just moved into the new high school. The building provided a vehicle bay area which would accommodate three pumpers, two tankers and a squad truck. The old Band room is used as the meeting room, and the Art Room the kitchen area. The gym teacher old offices are now the Chief's office and the Commissioners Office. In 1987 the Fire Department incorporated and established a President, V-P, Sec. position to the organization, thus allowing the corporate officers to run the business side of the department and the Chief and his assistants to handle the fire aspect. Since the department has been incorporated, the members have been hosting Bingo, on tuesday nights. The money raised through bingo has allowed the department to expand without any taxpayer money being used. The station had a large bay added on to the existing structure along with purchasing a new set of "JAWS", VEHICLE EXTRICATION TOOLS which the department didn't previously own. In 1995 the department purchased a new $60,000.00 squad truck through the proceeds of bingo and other fund raisers and turned it over to thte Fire District. These items alone have saved the taxpayers of the Fire District over $200,000.00 and allowed the department to continue to keep upgrading to meet the needs of tomorrow. The Au Sable Forks Fire District began a comprehensive budget agenda and planning for the future and is currently in the process of replacing the twelve self-contained breathing apparatus. Good budgeting and future planning will allow this to occur without having to borrow any money or raise any taxes, with expected delivery in January of 1998, The District is planning on replacing the old 1979 Ford Pumper in late 1998 and the old International tanker in 1999 or 2000. The Department currently has an suthorized maxim suppression membership of 45 active members. There are currently thirty two active members. The equipment consists of two pumpers, two tankers, squad truck, brush truck, and a support van. This History of the Department was taken from the Archives and we believe it was written by Chief of Department Danny Deyoe and it takes us with up through 1990 ish. (the correct date is being researched)
