Andover Volunteer Fire Department
Andover, Connecticut
A History of the Andover Volunteer Fire Department 1938 - 2013
by Scott Yeomans
Page 3
By the summer of 1948, it was quite clear that we needed more water on wheels to back up the 150 gallons carried on the engine. As it happened, the Radcliff Oil Company had several used Oil Tank Trucks for sale. A committee was dispatched to examine these trucks. It reported back to the department that one would be suitable for meeting our needs as a water tanker. A special meeting approved the purchase of a 1941 chassis and 1,200 gal. tank. They also approved the purchase of a centrifugal pump, booster reel and related plumbing. The total price was $1,800.00. $700 for truck, with new clutch, $175 for the tank. Paid for by the dept, not the town Completed and in service 2/1949.
To help pay for the truck, the association decided to hold its first Carnibar. The festival was held in September of 1949 and made a profit of $500. Carnibars continued to be held annually through 1974 after which increased costs and difficulties getting rides brought them to an end.
After the tanker was placed in service, the membership decided to raffle off the old Kelly Truck among themselves, since the highest outside bid they could secure for the truck was $35.00. The raffle netted $96.50. Fire fighter F. W. Thorton won it
By 1949, the Telephone Company was doing away with the operator controlled phone system. In its place they were installing dial telephones in all rural areas. This necessitated a new type of emergency alerting system. The answer for Andover was to join the central dispatch system that was set up with the main switchboard located at the Willimantic Fire Station. The cost of this service was approximately $20.00 per month. This provided for someone to answer phone calls that were reporting emergencies and to activate the siren. The first person arriving at the station would then call the "dispatcher" to find out what the emergency was. He would then write the location of the call on a blackboard at the station for those that followed.
Since industry had not yet begun the manufacture of personal fire-fighting equipment, as we know it today, items were adapted from other uses, to that of fire fighting. One such early adaptation was the use of gas masks to protect firemen from smoke. Early in 1950 four such masks were donated to the department by United Aircraft Corporation (United Technologies). Also in 1950 the town established an insurance fund for firemen. This fund would cover active firemen in the event they were injured in the line of duty. The fund was started with a deposit of $5,500 and grew to $13,300 before it was discontinued and the money put toward the purchase of a new engine later in the decade.
The spring of 1952 brought two new and very useful items to the department inventory. The first, was an E & J Resuscitator. This was first demonstrated to the firemen at their February monthly meeting. At that time the membership felt that it would be a useful item and decided to raise the funds necessary to purchase one, about $600.00. By July the men grew impatient, The fund raising was not going well. They voted to take the remaining funds needed from the department treasury and make the purchase. The second item, radio communications, came about through two events. The first being the installation of a two-way base station at the Willimantic Dispatch Center. This base, as with the telephone switchboard, would be manned on a 24 hour a day basis. Andover contributed $50.00 to help defray the cost of the installation. Soon after the base station was broadcasting, our meeting voted to provide half the cost of a mobile radio for the engine, with the town paying the other half. By July, the radio was installed and working well. It was then no longer necessary to have the State Police come to each fire to provide radio communications to request aid, as had been the practice up until this time. Later, in 1954, the department would get its first portable radio.
E & J Resuscitator. demonstration 1967
Kneeling: Bill Covell, Jack Fisher, J. Russel Thompson. Standing: Dave Hudak, Ken Bains. Patient: Howard Bidwell
In the fall of 1952, Clarice Yeomans and her sister, Dorathea Raymond, were both given Honorary Membership. This was for their long and very dedicated service to the fire department. These were the first women voted into membership of the Andover Volunteer Fire Department. We would not get our first female regular active member until 1980, when Lauren Breadheft joined.
By the end of the summer of 1954, the department placed an additional truck in service. This vehicle was the result of a motion, passed at the April meeting. This motion empowered the executive officers to purchase "the most suitable truck in a price range within the means of the department, to be used as an emergency truck". This truck became Andover's first patient carrier.
Inservice from 8/1954 to 12/1959
Dave Hudak and Maxwell "Buster" Hutchinson
Shortly after the addition of the emergency truck, attentions turned to an addition to the firehouse itself. The costs were estimated to be $1,500.00 for materials and the same for labor. Due to numerous problems, construction was delayed until the spring of 1955. In the end, an additional bay was added to the existing two.
1941 Tanker wetting down a trash fire
