Smithtown, A History: Smithtown Fire Department's Humble Beginnings

Before 1908, the Smithtown Fire Department didn’t exist. Whenever fire broke out, residents would form a bucket brigade using whatever water they could.

Former fire chief Joseph Gardella compiled the department’s history for their 100th anniversary in 2008. The research on the Smithtown Fire Department’s website took Gardella almost eight years to compile with the use of old journals and records.

Visitors to the website will find that the early days of the fire department were greatly different from present times. Simple things like trucks with motor engines and even the firehouse’s siren didn’t exist in 1908.

According to Gardella’s research, meetings were held in 1908 to discuss forming a fire company, and the name Smithtown Volunteer Hook and Ladder Company was chosen on March 4, 1908. The fire group started with a piece of land on Bellemeade Avenue donated by general store owner John S. Huntting. The volunteers also had a steel tower for a bell built and donated by a John Holm Sr. and 12 pointed shovels.

When fire broke out at Hallock Blacksmith Shop on Landing Avenue on September 16, 1908, the new volunteers were put to the test. With very little equipment, the men couldn’t fight the fire properly and as a result the shop and other structures were lost.

Gardella said the destruction confirmed the need for the fire department, and the company proceeded to purchase a hook and ladder truck from Bayport for $75. After their first purchase, the department was able to acquire future apparatus through fundraisers such as a chemical engine for $600.

The first fire trucks were wagons that needed to be hitched to a horse team, and the department began to hold drills to practice using the equipment. It wasn’t until 1917 when the decision was made to raise money for motorized fire apparatus.

The company purchased a Ford Motor chemical engine in 1919 for $2,000. Once again the money was raised through the community’s fundraising efforts. In 1921 the department was also able to buy two Ford chassis to update older apparatus.

To alert volunteers of fire, an engine driving wheel was first used.  Donated by the Long Island Railroad in the end of 1908, the wheel was stuck with a sledgehammer and could be heard over great distances.

In 1913 a large bell was purchased and a bell tower was placed on the roof of headquarters. Pulling on a heavy rope that was connected to a clapper made the alarm ring. The double-head Sterling siren that we hear today for emergencies and every day at noon was installed in 1923.

A telephone wasn’t found in the first headquarters until April of 1930. Before that the phone was in the home of a nearby volunteer who would receive the calls and then go outside and ring the bell. He would also write the location of the emergency on a blackboard and light the lanterns so everything would be ready when the volunteers arrived.

The early days of the Smithtown Fire Department were humble ones. With firefighters today reporting to headquarters on Elm Avenue as well as two other stations and using state-of-the-art equipment, the early days are just a distant memory.