The Middlebury Volunteer Fire Department’s early days

This picture of the Middlebury Volunteer Fire Department outside the firehouse on Tucker Hill Road may have been taken in 1994 when they were chosen “Best All Around Fire Department” in the state. (Middlebury Historical Society photo)

By DR. ROBERT L. RAFFORD

On the occasion of its 75th anniversary, the Middlebury Historical Society salutes our Middlebury Volunteer Fire Department (MVFD). We are proud to remember the personnel who created it, and we congratulate and thank those who continue to provide excellent service to our town.

In August 1940, a fire leveled the home of the family of Ray (1898-1981) and Leona (1897-1991) Bedell on Fenn Road. At a meeting later that day, Ben Atwood, Jack Daly, Chris Riley, First Selectman Howard Bronson, Ray Bedell and others decided they finally had had enough: Middlebury, they realized, should have its own fire department. A community club was created with the purpose of forming a local fire department, and the selectmen called a special meeting for Jan. 27, 1941, to create a volunteer fire department and to raise funds for equipment, according to Delia Bronson’s History of Middlebury, Conn.

Before 1941, towns were vulnerable to fire catastrophes. Open fires in homes were ubiquitous – candles and stoves were used every day, cleared brush was often burned in yards, and Mother Nature was always threatening houses and barns, where flammable hay was usually stored, with lightning. Middlebury relied primarily on the resources of Waterbury and paid their fire department each time they were needed.

Occasionally, other nearby towns would assist in a particularly aggressive conflagration. Fires were also fought by people who lived nearby, using buckets, blankets and any other means possible.

Prior to 1909, it is difficult to find any direct town expenditure for firefighting in the annual town reports. In 1909, the town paid G. Fred Abbott (1863-1946) the sum of $2 for performing the job of fire warden, and William M. Shepardson was paid $13.50 for “care of fires.” In 1911, M. M. Sterry, F. A. Strong and Howard B. Tuttle were paid a total of $22.39 as fire wardens. In 1912 fire wardens cost $27.05; in 1913 it rose to $30.65 but subsided to $9.45 in 1914. In 1915, Paul Steinmann and Marvin Sterry were paid a total of $39 as fire wardens. In 1917, the fire wardens received $19.75, and the dog warden got $34. In 1919, the fire warden was paid $3, but the town had to reimburse the city of Waterbury $170 for damage sustained by their firefighting apparatus.

In 1921, the town annual report listed an expense of $8 for police duty, and the fire warden was paid $100.85. 1922 saw the expense of $18.70 for “forest fires.” 1924 saw a fire-protection cost of $75, while police duty cost $14. In 1925, there was a fire protection cost of $75; police duty cost $5. That same year, it cost $10 to move a dead horse.

By the 1930s, Middlebury was paying nearly $200 a year for Waterbury’s fire assistance. In 1935, the year the town hall and Congregational Church burned down, the town reimbursed various towns and individuals over $300 for their help.

Subsequent to earlier meetings, the Middlebury Volunteer Fire Department was organized June 5, 1941. First Selectman Howard Bronson appointed Melville Wallace Skiff (1895-1962) as the first chief of the department, and $4,000 was earmarked for a fire engine. Russell Clark (1909-1978) was the first recording secretary.

Names of some, but not all, of the people present were Russell Clark, Melville W. Skiff, Howard E. Bronson, Ben Atwood, Elmer V. Jensen, John Niekirk, Howard Box, Leonard Mogren, Stephen Malione, Harold Townsend, Charles Squires Sr., John West, James Tyler, Ralph Macchiarola, George Lynch, James Dwyer, Fred V. Pope, Leo Niekirk, Christopher Riley, Raymond Bedell, Anthony Ferrante, John O. Hanson, Lester Markham, Charles Shoemaker, Howard Townsend, Michael Fisher, Daniel Lizdas, David Ford, Walter Folgmann, Charles Harper and Ralph Burgoyne.

Three months later, a 1941 Ford pumper with a 275-gallon tank and a 500 gallon-per-minute pump was delivered to the department; it was kept at the Four Corners Gas Station in the low building just across the brook from the current post office. By the department’s Silver Anniversary in 1966, it had equipment such as smoke ejectors, which not even the Waterbury Fire Department had yet obtained.

The date of this picture of the original Middlebury Volunteer Fire Department firehouse at Four Corners is unknown, but the picture probably was taken in the 1950s or 60s. (Middlebury Historical Society photo)

Organizational efforts became stifled by the onset of World War II, but land was obtained by town officials in the late 1940s on the east side of Regan Road at Four Corners, once known as Abbott Corner. A firehouse was erected there that included bays for the fire engines, a small kitchen and an office area. The club room windows were from the Mary I. Johnson School (so named in 1955), then known as Bradleyville School. A siren atop the building summoned volunteer firemen to action.

On February 2, 1948, the Middlebury Volunteer Fire Department Ladies Auxiliary was organized, and Julia Judd was elected its first president.

This article will be continued. Readers are urged to contact the Middlebury Historical Society if you have news articles, photographs or other historical information to help us compile a complete history of the MVFD.

Don’t forget, we’re open year-round every Monday from 2 to 6 p.m. and other times by appointment. Join us!

Bob Rafford is the Middlebury Historical Society president and Middlebury’s municipal historian. To join or contact the society, visit MiddleburyHistoricalSociety.org or call Bob at 203-206-4717. Your membership would be a valuable addition.