GRAFTON, Vt. – The Grafton Fire Department was formally established at the March 4, 1924, Town Meeting, 100 years ago almost to the day of this year’s Town Meeting. This came about due to action by the Grafton Improvement Association, which had appointed a committee the previous September to organize a fire company. Once approved by the voters, a dance was soon held in the Town Hall, with the cost of admission being one pail to be used by the new Grafton Volunteer Fire Company. Why pails? There was already a hand-drawn and hand-operated pumper for which water was supplied by a classic “bucket brigade,” which lifelong resident Norris Bragg recalled from his younger days in a 1984 interview. This pumper, now on display at the Grafton Historical Society, may have been in town since it was built In Windsor, Vt., in the shop of John Cooper, between 1827 and 1833. There are written references to some type of firefighting group in the village since 1847, and possibly earlier, but no formal continuing organization up to the 1924 Town Meeting.
Things moved quickly after the donation of 24 pails from the dance.
Harry A. Farnsworth was appointed as the first fire chief in April, and during the summer the selectboard purchased the Harley Leonard garage, on what is now Kidder Hill Road, to house the old pumper along with the new pails. A committee solicited donations of funds, materials, and labor to repair the building. This pattern of community support would be repeated in future years as the fire department relocated to other buildings, including the present firehouse. Years later, the fire station on Kidder Hill Road was expanded into what was called the Village Pump Antiques Shop, and eventually a home that would be severely damaged in Storm Irene and subsequently torn down.
The following year, in November of 1925, it was proposed that Grafton should have a fire truck like the one in Alstead, N.H., which had cost $3,500 (about $63,000 today). However, it appears that the only fire apparatus for the next few years would be the old hand pumper and two large hand drawn chemical extinguishers for which the Women’s Community Club provided funds, and which are also now on display at the Historical Society along with some of the pails. The first “modern” fire engine was acquired in 1933, when a 1926 Cadillac touring car was purchased for $100 and cut back by the firefighters using hammers and chisels so a pump, costing $600, could be mounted on it to create a fire engine. A suction hose was donated, and additional hose was purchased for $320, making the total cost of the “new” fire engine $1,020. As continues today, a lot of skilled labor and sweat equity was provided by the volunteer firefighters to build Grafton’s first motorized fire engine, which was kept in service until 1956.
Shortly after this first engine was put into service, in December of 1934, the Grafton Firemen’s Association was formed to provide broader oversight of the fire company by including people from the community, as well as firefighters, amongst its membership. At Town Meeting in 1955, the association became the legal authority for the fire department, including its equipment and funds. This body, now known as the Grafton Firefighters Association, continues today in its oversight role of the fire department.
What today is known as the “old firehouse” on Main Street began in 1830 as the village school, later becoming a tin shop and funeral parlor, as well as the home of the Grafton Cornet Band, which was housed on the second floor, with the building then known as the Band Hall. In 1938 its owner, John Butterworth Duncan, deeded the building to the Town for it to become the firehouse. Mr. Duncan stipulated as part of his donation that the Grafton Band would continue to occupy the second floor. This was also the year that the building, along with the post office next door, was pushed off its foundation by floodwaters from the great hurricane of 1938. It wasn’t until 1951 that a purpose-built 1946 Dodge fire engine would find a place in the Main Street firehouse along side the old Cadillac.
In 1968, an International engine was purchased, the first truly new fire engine the department was to have, and in 1980, a reconditioned 1959 Mack engine found its way into the firehouse. By 1989 it was time to replace the old Mack, but it was impossible to find a modern fire engine that could fit into the building. Estimates were received to remodel the structure, but even then it would be just the two bays with no running water, no septic, and no office or storage space. Once again, a community effort to raise funds to help the fire department was initiated. This time it was to build a new firehouse, and was ironically spearheaded by a man named Mack. Fire Chief Stan Mack led a successful fundraising campaign, resulting in the present fire house on Route 121, just east of the village, being constructed in 1992. This involved a transfer of land between the Firefighters Association and the Windham Foundation, which also preserved the Grafton Cornet Band’s continued use of the second floor of the “old firehouse,” as it does to this day. The new firehouse was also large enough to house the Grafton FAST-Rescue Squad. Not only was there a new firehouse, but 1992 saw the first woman firefighter, Joy Ellis, join the department that year. Another first at that time was the acquisition of an aerial ladder truck for the fire department. A 1973 Ward-LaFrance Telesquirt ladder truck was purchased from a Long Island, N.Y., department, which needed an enclosed cab to be welded over the open driver’s compartment to make it of use here in Vermont.
Several years later, community fundraising was again the focus of the fire department when donations and grants helped the department purchase its first purpose-built fire engine since 1968: a 1999 Freightliner American LaFrance four-wheel-drive, 1,250-gallons-per-minute engine/pumper. This was followed in 2002 with acquisition of a new Freightliner American LaFrance ladder truck to replace the Telesquirt, for which parts were no longer available. The 75-foot ladder unit itself was a refurbished one previously used by the St. Louis, Mo., Fire Department.
Aside from the issues of equipment and where to house it, communication has always been a challenge. For a number of years, firefighters were alerted by the sounding of an air horn whistle mounted on the roof of the fire house. A combination of short and long blasts would indicate the location of the fire. In 1972, an allocation was made at Town Meeting for the purchase of a two-way radio so Grafton would no longer be the only fire department in the region without this means of communication. For many years, a telephone tree was in use, and in 1977 a new siren was mounted on the firehouse roof. The siren still alerts firefighters and the community to major incidents. By 1983, the fire department was dispatched through the regional Mutual Aid System based in Keene, N.H., prompting then-Chief Ed McWilliam to pronounce it as “ a most efficient system, one of the most progressive steps your fire department has taken.” Today’s firefighters are still dispatched through Mutual Aid, relying on pagers, cell phones, and now every individual firefighter has access to a two way radio.
One constant that has existed throughout these past 100 years is the support provided to the fire department by the community. Organizations, Town Meeting, and many individuals, particularly those who have served as firefighters and association members, have created and maintained the Grafton Fire Department from 1924-2024. Fundraising events such as the Auxiliary Tag Sale and an annual appeal are a large part of the fire department’s funding to supplement the Town Meeting allocation. It is this commitment to and by the community which will carry the volunteer fire department in Grafton into the next 100 years, and there are already new challenges to face, with the Grafton Fire Department having recently assumed responsibility for providing fire and emergency responses to the adjacent town of Athens.
Written by Dave Ross