05/24/2026
On March 22, 2026, a history of the Champlain Fire Department’s “Niagara” hand pumper was posted here. The 1858 hand pumper was purchased from the Niagara Hose Co. No. 3 fire department in St. Albans, Vt. in August of 1873 by several businessmen in Champlain. They donated the pumper to the newly incorporated Village of Champlain in late September that year and the Champlain Fire Department was formally organized. As noted in the essay, the Champlain fire department name of “Niagara Hose Co. No. 1” is based on the name of the hand pumper "Niagara”. That name was the original name of the St. Albans fire department hose company. On Cedar St. was “Niagara Hall” where the pumper was stored.
Recently, a history of the Champlain Fire Department was found in a local publication printed in 1991. It was found after the FB essay on Niagara was written. This article gives a good history of the fire equipment, communications and fire houses that were used between 1873 and 1991 when the article was written. As the article was written 35 years ago, it is missing later history, including the names of the recent fire chiefs.
The article noted that the 1858 Niagara hand pumper was in service up to the 1930s (it was in service for over 72 years). It was then taken to the Kaufman factory in Perry’s Mills and was present at the store in 1965 and maybe later. It is not clear when the pumper left Champlain but it was gone by the late 1970s. In recent years, it was taken to Michigan (and many other states) where it was restored by a collector of old hand pumpers. It arrived back in Champlain last fall and is on loan to the fire department where it has been offered for sale.
The article is from the booklet "FIRE! The History of Firefighting in Clinton County" published by the Clinton County Historical Association. The booklet has a chapter on the history of each fire department in the county. The chapters were written by a member of each fire department. It is not known who wrote the Champlain article. It is posted here with permission of CCHA.
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Champlain
Niagara Hose Company No. 1
The Niagara Hose Company Volunteer Fire Department of the Village of Champlain dates back to 1873, approximately the same time as the incorporation of the village. A founder and one of the early fire chiefs was Bartlett Nye, who married a granddaughter of Pliny Moore [incorrect: Bartlett Nye Jr. was a great-grandson of Pliny Moore (1759-1822)]. John Earl served as the first secretary.
The name of the department was derived from the first piece of equipment it owned-a Niagara hand pumper. It was a large four-wheeled wagon lined with copper so that it could be filled with water, either by buckets or by a suction hose attached to the wagon. Another hose, which curved up over the wagon, was used for directing water at the fire. The wagon was hand-drawn, with a tongue which allowed two men to steer it, and long ropes for other firemen to pull it. The pump handles were large enough so that up to 30 men, lined up two deep on each side of the wagon, could pump the water. With a full crew, it was estimated that it could pump up to 150 gallons of water per minute.
For approximately the first 20 years of its existence, the Village of Champlain had no water system. Instead of hydrants, the village had hose carts placed at strategic locations. The water system and hydrants were installed in 1897.
The Niagara pumper remained in service until 1933, when the 26th Infantry Division donated a 1918 American LaFrance fire truck to the fire department. The Niagara pumper went to Kaufman's factory in Perry's Mills for storage. The members of the fire department rebuilt the American LaFrance, which pumped 750 g.p.m. and served the village for many years.
The original fire house was a small building, located behind the American House, which served as a combination jail and storage shed for the pumper [Niagara Hall was on Cedar Street where an open lot is today, it was removed in the mid-1920s; many village and town events were held here]. In 1930, the fire department acquired more spacious quarters in the new village hall, a rebuilt version of the Presbyterian Church located at the corner of Main and Church Streets. The church had burned in 1929 [December 1927], and the property was sold to the village. The fire department had its garage and office space downstairs, and village offices and an auditorium were upstairs. In 1947, an addition was built on the village hall to provide more space for the fire department. The building also housed the village jail.
In 1946, the Niagara Hose Company ordered a 750 g.p.m. modern automatic pumper from the General Fire Truck Company in Detroit. Because of the scarcity of materials and the backlog of orders after the war, it took two years for "The General" to be built. Finally, in the autumn of 1948, the fire department took possession of its new fire truck, which was driven to Champlain from Detroit by some of the firemen.
In the same year, Niagara Hose Company acquired a tank truck, the second tanker in the county (Chazy had the first). It was a second-hand 1,000-gallon fuel-oil truck which the fire department purchased from a Plattsburgh business. As with the old American LaFrance, firemen did all the work necessary on the fuel-oil truck to put it into service as a tanker.
Also in 1948, the Fire Department got its first outside firefighting contract, an agreement with the Town of Champlain to respond to calls within the half of the town lying closest to Champlain.
Rescue work was facilitated in 1950 with the acquisition of Niagara Hose Company's first squad car, an old LaSalle hearse donated by Parsons Funeral Home. Extensive shop work was done by firemen to alter the body of the vehicle. It was outfitted with a stretcher, oxygen equipment purchased with fire department Bingo funds, other emergency equipment, and the department's first radio. The squad car was put on the road about the time that Clinton County's Mutual Aid System was organized for fire departments.
The first fire alarm system consisted of a bell that was rung by hand. In 1916, an electric bell was installed in the tower of the Presbyterian Church [corner of Church and Main Streets, later Village Hall] and was rung by the telephone operator at the Central Office. After fire destroyed the Presbyterian Church in 1929 [December 1927], the fire department acquired the siren which is still in use. Firemen were provided with individual, in-house alarms in 1948, thanks to a system devised by members of the department. The fire department purchased surplus telephone wire and obtained permission from the telephone company to string it on telephone poles. The wiring was connected to bells located in each fireman's home and rung through the telephone system.
In 1950, the department went to a dial system, with leased lines connected to the individual alarms. The present system is a radio-operated Home Alert System. Each fireman has a Home Alert receiver in his home. Members of the Rescue Squad have portable pocket pagers which they carry when they are on call. The entire alarm system is still activated by the telephone operator at the Central Office.
In 1953, Niagara Hose Company acquired another fire truck, built on a Chevrolet chassis purchased locally. The chassis was driven to Warren, Pennsylvania, where a 1,000-gallon tank and a 500 g.p.m. pump were installed. Concerned about getting exactly the right color of red for their new truck, the firemen bought their own paint and took it with them to Pennsylvania.
In 1957, the fire department bought a new Chevrolet walk-in panel truck. After many hours of labor, it was transformed into an emergency rescue vehicle. In 1974, the department bought a diesel-powered Hahn combination pumper/tanker with a 1,000 g.p.m. pump and a 1,200-gallon tank. The 1957 rescue vehicle was replaced in 1977, when the fire department obtained a new Chevrolet walk-in van, thanks to the efforts of the men of the company and the donations of residents of the fire district. As with the 1957 vehicle, much work by fire department members was required to convert the van into a squad truck.
In March, 1978, Champlain Rescue, Inc. gave a new ambulance to the Champlain Fire Department. In anticipation of this donation, a rescue squad had been formed. Many of the firemen were formally trained in first aid, and some had qualified as emergency medical technicians.
In 1981, Niagara Hose Company bought a Stanford pumper/tanker, which was replaced in the fall of 1990 with a new pumper/tanker. A couple of years ago [late 1980s], firemen built a crash truck on a chassis donated by Anchor Freight. Designed for answering emergency calls, it has its own power supply, floodlights on columns, and a Jaws of Life.
In the late 1980s, the Fire Department got a new fire house, a four-bay steel building located on Elm Street.
The Niagara Hose Company has expanded from 30 members in its early days, to 55 members in recent years.
The Village of Champlain suffered its most memorable fire in May [April 27], 1912, when the entire downtown area was destroyed [a few buildings were destroyed downtown]. The blaze apparently began in a large, three-story building downtown that housed the post office, a slaughter house, a bakery, and apartments in the upper stories. Fanned by a strong southwest wind and fueled by the shingle roofs on most of the buildings, the fire raced through Champlain, burning virtually everything in its path. [The fire burned several buildings and barns on the north side of Main St.; also, the McLellan house (original house of Pliny Moore built in 1800), Louis LaFontaine’s house near the KofC and a nearby farm house and buildings on Elm St.]
Fire Chiefs:
(Dates, from fire department records, are in some cases only approximate.)
Benjamin Corbin Moore 1873
Bartlett Nye 1876
M.V. Stetson 1885
O.L. Chapman 1887
George W. Graves 1889
A. Donaldson 1890
Peter Hamel 1891
(gap in fire department records)
Howard McCrea 1945 - 1946
James Chevalier 1947
Stewart Reed 1948 - 1951
Lester Hamel 1952 - 1957
Francis Dumas 1958 - 1959
Ernest Hamel 1960 - 1961
Aurel Parsons 1962 - 1965
Duane Trombley 1966 - 1971
Homer Miller 1972 - 1973
Alfred Babbie 1974 - 1976
Wayne Bulriss 1977 - 1978
Albert Morelli 1979 - 1982
Martin Bechard 1983 - 1985
Bruce Barcomb 1986 - 1988
Joe Perreault current chief
[ARTICLE WRITTEN IN 1991, FIRE CHIEFS UP TO THIS DATE]
