General Warren Emergency Company #2

The General Warren Emergency Company #2 was formed on May 15, 1854 following the incorporation of the Village of Warren, NY. Funding for the purchase of a hand pumper, hose, and quarters for a fire company was approved at that meeting. The Village of Warren, in exchange for a body of volunteer firefighters, issued this apparatus and equipment to the newly formed Warren Fire Engine Company #1. Operating continuously for over 150 years, General Warren Emergency Company #2 remains “Ever Ready When Duty Calls”

The General Warren Emergency Company #2 is the Heavy Rescue Company of the Haverstraw Fire Department. General Warren Emergency Company responds as unit 4-EM to all activities dispatched to Rockland County Department 4. 4-EM is equipped with onboard extrication tools, air bags, portable generators, ventilation equipment, power tools, lighting, portable pumps, firefighter S.C.B.A., firefighter comfort, and other rescue equipment. Our 1998 Saulsbury/Spartan Gladiator is also equipped with a 4 stage Waterous pump, a 500 gallon tank, and permanent foam firefighting capability.

Please enjoy our in house Fire Company web site. We strive to provide a modern, accessible source of fire company history and information to the public. All pictures, audio, videos and documents presented here are the property of the General Warren Emergency Company#2, and are free to download and use for non-commercial purposes. We hope you link and give credit when appropriate, but don’t hesitate. Any other content presented here such as newsletters, scanner feeds, rss feeds are used with thanks to our friends.

January 7, 1998

While responding to a hazardous material incident in the Town of Ramapo, Marshall was exposed and soon after was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer. After a long and grueling battle, Marshall succumbed  in January of 1998.

Marshall, a third generation volunteer, held many positions in our company including President, Chief Driver and Truck Committee Chairman. He also held the position of Warden and Treasurer of the Haverstraw Fire Department.

Marshall’s actions, both on the fire ground and off, truly defined the altruistic principals we local volunteer firefighters hold so near.

We miss you, Marshall.

The age old method to alert the membership to a fire alarm fell upon a Village watchman, who after hearing a resident scream, or when finding a fire, would run to the Methodist Church on Fourth Street and ring the bell to alert the membership. The brickyards had steam whistles that would sound on the north side of town. Near the turn of the 19th century, the Lighting Company on West Broad Street installed a ‘whistle’ on its roof, dubbed the ‘Screecher’, that would be sounded when there was an alarm. This system was in place until 1908, when the Village of Haverstraw contracted with the Gamewell Company to install street pull boxes. 12 new pull boxes were installed throughout the Village. The system remains in place today. When a box is triggered, a spring-loaded wheel spins and taps out a signal onto a telegraph wire, indicating the box number. A receiver at 4-100 then redistributes the signal to horns on 4-100 and on #3′s firehouse on Conklin Ave. Each Fire Company has a tickertape and gongs in quarters to alert the membership and count the box number.

Chiefs Call

Haverstraw has numerous active pull boxes, as well as blank ‘auto alarm’ boxes, and box assignments for corners without boxes. These boxes, when pulled or activated, cause the horn to sound, the tapes and gongs to run, a ‘quick call’ to sound on the pagers and it digitally sends the location data to Rockland County Fire Control. The radio operator at 44-Control can see the location of the box on the digitizer, ascertain a location, and then announce it over the air. Each box has a numbered code that corresponds to a corner or building in the Village. Box 216 is the corner of Main and Third St’s, for example. Certain codes also give special meaning. Box 1-2 for example is a request for a pumper and the EM, 3-3-3-3 is mutual aid, 1 blast is a fault in the telegraph.

Rockland County Fire Control, or 44-Control, receives data from pulled boxes via a digital control box, or digitizer, located at 4-100. 44-Control will then ascertain the location of the alarm, cause a home alert tone and then announce the location of the alarm. Conversely, when 44-Control receives a telephone alarm or 911 call, they cross reference to the nearest corner box count and send the data back to the digitizer, so in Haverstraw, you hear the box number.

Below is a video of a Saturday Box alarm test. During a test like in the video, the Chief first notified & checked with 44-Control for clear air, and proceded to give 2 manual blasts on the telegraph key. This caused the quick call to sound, which you hear on the pagers. He then pulled the lever to begin the box test. There was no Home Alert or announcement from 44-Control because it was a test.

In a real emergency, the box would be activated by pulling the lever, the Horns will blast, the ‘Quick Call’ would page the membership, the digitizer would notify 44-Control who would then broadcast Home Alert tones and announce the location over the air.

Click Here for a Box List

The weather was great and the turnout big.  Click above for more pictures of the parade.

Inspection Results

Best Overall

Relief Hose #3

Many thanks to all who joined us on Saturday!

The Bi-Annual Inspection and Parade of the Haverstraw Fire Department will be held on Saturday May 15, 2010. This years parade will honor Chief Peter J. Rugg. Inspection of Quarters will begin at 8am, parade line-up will be at 2pm.
The parade steps off from in front of the Municipal Building (4-100) at 3 pm and proceeds North on Broadway to Westside Ave, then south on Hudson Ave to New Main Street. Break up is at the Village Hall at New Main St. and Maple Ave.

Part of our ongoing preservation effort, we have more interesting information on the Haverstraw Fire Department. Haverstraw Ex-Chief Smokey Fales (1933-34), who  was also Village Clerk, had gone through the Village Minutes and clipped any mentions of the Haverstraw Fire Department. What follows is basically the early history of the department as seen through the Village Board. Its a good look at the workings of the early Fire Department.

Click below for a PDF Version

The 2010 Annual Convention of the Haverstraw Fire Department was  held on Thursday evening April 8th in The General Warren Emergency Company #2 quarters.  This was the 151st annual Chiefs Convention. The Re-Organizational Meeting of the H.F.D. will be Tuesday April 20, 2010 at 2000 hrs in The Shrine.

Chief Officers 2010-2011

• 4-1 Chief Peter Rugg  General Warren #2
• 4-2 Assistant Chief Patrick McNamee Relief #3
• 4-3 Assistant Chief Al Lynch Lady Warren #5
• 4-4 Assistant Chief Robert Drexler Jr. Cosgriff #4
• 4-5 Assistant Chief Thomas Price Rescue #1

For the first 80 years of the Haverstraw Fire Department, leadership was in the form of 1 Engineer, or Chief, and 2 Assistants, who were duly elected from 3 of the  5 companies. The Machine played a dominate role in early Haverstraw, and firehouses were the center of political life in the village. Politics also played a starring role in the election of officers, who along with the Boss would work hard to get their man in. Reading the newspaper’s of the day, you would see that the department went through periods of intense controversy, including disbanding and re-organizations of companies, though often with the same political plot line. By the 1930′s, Haverstraw was to reform the process, abandon the old and begin an election of 1 Chief Officer from each of the 5 companies, and this tradition stands today.

This story is told by members, both past and present. The chain of events border on folklore in the H.F.D. As with many hotly debated firehouse  issues over the years, the story you were taught just depended on what company you belonged to. To some,  the lesson learned was of  equal representation. To others, it was about time.

This is the story of  The Combination.

On February 14, 1859 the New York State Legislature passed an Act which provided for, and regulated the election of a Chief Engineer and two Assistant Engineers of the Fire Department of the Village of Warren in the County of Rockland. Throughout the 19th century, the system of picking Chief Engineers held, and an annual convention became routine to elect a chief and 2 assistants for the following year, with the older more established companies holding sway over the others. The candidates themselves, at times surrounded in controversy, were often at odds with the Board of Engineers over company issues, and often would get the ‘boot’.

By 1900, with 5 companies represented by 3 Engineers, and political clout in the guise of easy assignments and better equipment for the companies involved, politics played a big role in the Department. Back door political maneuverings would find the Chiefs banding together, and of course dissent followed in the companies not represented in the combination. They had good candidates for Chief but couldn’t get enough votes. The first eight years of the 20th century would find General Warren #2, Lady Warren #5, and Relief Hose #3 in control of the combination.

In 1908, the two companies not represented, Rescue #1 and Cosgriff #4 used their influence to swing #2′s their way, and this would last until 1914, when Bernie Fox, the Democratic Party leader in the village, and a member of #5′s would vie for chief. This would set off a another change in the combination that would ultimately bring it down. The year is 1914, and Haverstraw was hosting the Hudson Valley Parade and Convention. Thomas Flynn of #1′s was in step for Chief. Obviously, Bernie Fox wanted to be chief for the big convention and #5’s needed the combination to secure this honor. Through political maneuvering, the combination changed again, with #3’s and #5’s joining #2′s  in electing Fox. The big loser was Tom Flynn and The Rescue Hook and Ladder #1.

In 1921, a young man joined General Warren and his name was Charles Fales. He was the step-son of Thomas Flynn, and being that the only thing deeper than politics is family, Smokey never forgot that Flynn got the ‘boot’. Working the ranks of General Warren, serving as Secretary and Captain of the company as well as Village clerk, Smokey was elected in 1930 as 2nd assistant engineer. Smokey was quickly named chairman of the By Law committee and soon had a group of rules up for review. Among them was a rule to allow the Election of a Chief Officer from each of the 5 companies. The matter of equal representation was voted down in committee, with #3′s and #5′s dissenting.

Now, nearly 20 years later, and after 4 years of constant political maneuverings with the Middle Street companies to remain in office, Smokey was elected Chief on April 5th, 1934. For years,  General Warren #2  had enough votes for their man, and this year Smokey was no exception. He was to be the last Chief to be elected by The Combination. Meanwhile Relief #3′s and Lady Warren #5′s  had nothing to gain and everything to loose  in this 1934 election, and went along electing  Harry Joachim of Relief Hose #3  and Jack Feeney of Lady Warren #5 for the ensuing year. This was the final election for the Combination.

Meanwhile, both Middle Street companies, #1′s and #4′s,  had been out of the combination since Tom Flynn got the boot in 1914. Now, a generation later reform of the system came from within The Combination, and the matter of Equal Representation on the Board of the Haverstraw Fire Department was proposed as a bylaw change to that board.

The Department Minutes show that during the Department re-organizational meeting on April 27, 1934, Smokey proposed an amendment to the By-Laws to allow equal representation to the Board from all five companies. On June 7, 1934 a special meeting of the Board of Chief Engineers was held for the purpose of adopting an amendment to the Constitution and By-Laws of the Haverstraw Fire Department to allow equal representation to the board by allowing election of one Chief Engineer and 4 assistants for the ensuing year. The amendment passed and an election was held that night to elect Chiefs from Rescue #1 and Cosgriff #4. The the close of that meeting the Board consisted of the following:

Charles Fales     General Warren #2

Harry Joachim     Relief Hose #3

Jack Feeney       Lady Warren #5

William Babcock   Cosgriff Hose #4

William Pallett   Rescue #1

To this day, on the first Thursday after the First Tuesday in the month of April, the Haverstraw Fire Department convenes a Chiefs Convention at 8pm to select 1 Chief and 4 Assistant Chiefs to represent each of the five companies of the Haverstraw Fire Department.

The General Warren Emergency Co.#2 is pleased to announce its Officers and Delegates for 2010.

Line Officers:

• Captain Bart Gordon
• First Lieutenant Gary Nash

House Officers:

• President Bud Wassmer
• Vice President Joe Gordon

Department Officers:

• Warden Andy Connors
• Warden Matt Connors

Delegates to the 2010 Chiefs Convention:

• Ex-Chief Joseph P Gordon 1964-1966
• Ex-Chief Frank ‘Bud’ Wassmer 1991-1992
• Ex-Chief Andrew Connors 1999-2000

Nominee for the Chief of the Haverstraw Fire Department:

• Peter J. Rugg

For a complete list of the 2010-20011 officers, please visit the Membership page.

1954 INTERNATIONAL JOHN BEAN HIGH PRESSURE

“High Pressure and Whistling Fog”

Our 1954 International Harvester John Bean High Pressure truck was to become the benchmark for all of our apparatus since. The John Bean High Pressure had a 300 gallon tank, high pressure discharges, electric generator, hydraulic extrication tools, lighting, and ‘Indian’ tanks and became the workhorse of the department through the 50′s and 60′s.

With the ability to pump water, work accidents, and complete salvage operations, unit 4-EM was born. Shown with our first boat. When we retired this truck in 1977, it went first to the Village as a sewer jet, eventually going to the Village of West Haverstraw as a stake truck.

1954IH

7 Photos