History

To acquaint the people of our town with the functioning of the Thomaston Fire Department, we are taking this opportunity to review the department’s policy and operation during the last one hundred forty two years of existence.

Our town has always been an attractive industrial center situated in the heart of the beautiful Naugatuck Valley, and like any community, the need of a fire department was imperative, so in the year 1881 many loyal men banded together and formed the Thomaston Fire Department.

The Thomaston Fire Department is an organization of two companies molded into one unit to meet the needs of the people of the Town of Thomaston.  The Crescent Hose Company was organized on April 22, 1881.  A charter was granted by the Connecticut General Assembly in 1883 and the Thomaston Hook and Ladder Co. was organized on December 19, 1881.

Thomaston’s first firehouse was a brick building built in the rear of the Congregational Church.  It housed both companies until the construction of the firehouse adjacent to the Town Hall in 1883.  The building served the needs of the Thomaston Fire Department until the 1970’s when it became apparent that this building could no longer house the larger and heavier equipment essential for modern firefighting.  A new building was necessary and we dedicated our present firehouse on South Main Street in April, 1977.

Shortly after the forming of the two companies the citizens of town elected a Board of Fire Commissioners consisting of six members.  It has been their responsibility to maintain the firehouse, recommend the purchase of the equipment and to appoint a Chief and two Assistant Chiefs each year.

With the Board of Fire Commissioners representing the townspeople by virtue of being elected, it was the policy of the active members of each company to elect annually their own officers, a Captain, a Senior Lieutenant and Junior Lieutenant, a Secretary, a Treasurer and a Steward.

The election of Captains and Lieutenants was changed in 2020.   At the present time a Captain and two Lieutenants are elected each year to 2 year terms and the compliment of two Captains, two 1^st Lieutenants and two 2^nd Lieutenants is still maintained.  The election of these officers is done by the active members of the entire department rather than each company.

The Companies hold an Annual Meeting each year and elect a President, Vice President, Secretary and Treasurer.  The Annual Meeting of the Hook and Ladder Company is held each January and the Crescent Hose Company holds its Annual Meeting each May.  The position of Steward was eliminated several years ago.

The Captains and Lieutenants are responsible to carry out the Chief’s orders and maintain the equipment assigned to them by the Chief.

In earlier years when all apparatus was drawn by manpower, it was the policy to carry a roster of seventy or more members, but in this motorized era each company is limited to forty members.

In its one hundred and forty two years of existence, only fifteen men have been honored to serve as Chief of the Department.  In order of succession they are:  John R. Hoyt, Thomas D. Bradstreet, James A. Chatfield, Harry L. Dickinson, Robert W. Henderson (the only Chief to die in active service), Robert Cummings, Allan Bowkett, Charles Glennon, Robert J. Brown, Clifford C. Brammer, Jr., Joseph T. Bachand, Henry J. McGee, Jr, James W. Wilson,  James J. O’Neil, Sr. and our present Chief Glenn C. Clark

For many years an alarm of fire was given by a series of blasts from the factory whistles. But that was supplemented in April of 1942 by a more modern and efficient signal system.  The exact street location was sounded by the use of a horn which was used to sound an alarm of fire or other emergency.  The horn was mounted to the roof of the firehouse.  In 1963 a Plectron System was added where a radio alert is sounded in each member’s home telling them the type and location of the incident.  In 1954 the Thomaston Fire Department received new radios for each truck.  This enabled the drivers of each truck to communicate with each other for more efficiency at a time of an emergency.  Sometime in the eighties the horn system was replaced with a siren.  In 1987, the department purchased Motorola pagers which were issued to each member.  The member could wear the pager on their belt to be alerted to emergency calls.  The pagers came with an amplifier/charger for home use.  In 1990, the siren was removed when the old firehouse was made a part of the Town Hall complex.  In 2014, the town implemented a 4 million dollar communications upgrade for all emergency services, Police, Fire, EMS along with Public Works and WPCA.  With this upgrade, the 1987 pagers were replaced and portable radios were added to the apparatus for each riding position.

The Thomaston Fire Department through the years has been active in many areas to meet the town’s needs.  One of the most notable was the 1955 flood.  The department was one of the town’s main lifelines for survival.  Many members spent three days without ever going off duty.

Thomaston has been fortunate through the years for its minimal fire losses, but we have had some disastrous fires which caused considerable property damage, some memorable ones being the Bradstreet Block (1924), the Grant Store (1956) , the Jackobsen fire (1957) which left three families homeless, the White Fence Inn (1965), the Thomaston Furniture Store (1974), the Eclipse Glass Company (1986) and Clearwater Pools (1986).

The Thomaston Fire Department has always been available to surrounding communities for mutual aid whenever needed.  Three such occasions were the Terryville Congregational Church fire on December 14, 1967,the Gavlick Industrial fire in Torrington on July 20, 1973, and the Toce Brothers Tire Warehouse fire in Torrington on April 4, 2014

Our department is very proud of the fact that we helped organize the Litchfield County Fire Chief’s Emergency Plan whose most important function is to be of service to its neighboring towns in time of emergency situations.  Another important function of this group was the installation of a radio system making it possible for area towns to communicate with each other.  Thomaston Fire Department was also instrumental in the forming of the Waterbury Area Fire Chief’s Association in 1970, whose main function is providing training to area members and supplying foam through its foam bank to member towns.  WAFCA consists of ten (10) area towns.  Thomaston, Terryville, Wolcott, Prospect, Waterbury, Naugatuck, Middlebury, Watertown, Cheshire and Plymouth.  The association through mutual aid will deliver foam to member towns in the event of an emergency.  Member towns replace any foam that they use.

As the need for training in the Volunteer Fire Service increased more schools were being formed which offered training sessions on a state level with state certified instructors. Today, two such schools are located in our area.  The Litchfield County Regional Fire School, in Torrington operated by the Litchfield County Fire Chiefs Emergency Plan and the Wolcott State Fire School in Wolcott, operated by the Waterbury Area Fire Chief’s Association.

At the regular joint meeting on May 16, 1977 it was voted to appoint a training officer.  This officer is to be appointed each year by the Chief of Department.  His title was later changed to Training Director whose duties would consist of the posting of upcoming training sessions. Obtaining training aids and scheduling department practices.  Assistant Chief Jack Morris was the first appointed and many followed in later years. 

Since the state instituted training centers, all new members of the Thomaston Fire Department are required to attend these sessions.  Many of the members have also attended fire service academies in other states including the National Fire Academy.  These members bring new ideas back to help our members become better firefighters.

Although the main function of our existence is to protect the people of the town from loss of life and property, we do have many social activities throughout the year.  In order to sponsor these activities the department conducts a carnival annually to provide the funds for these functions throughout the year.  New uniforms purchased by the department is one expense that necessitates our having a successful carnival each year.

The department is greatly indebted to the townspeople and friends for their financial support which makes these many worthwhile activities possible.  Our general fund is also enlarged by many generous donations from citizens in recognition of our prompt assistance when it is most needed.

The department has a proud history of participating in countless parades around the state over the years, having been named the Connecticut Parade Marshal Association State Champion on 16 occasions since 1983.  Those years being 1983, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1988, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1996, 2001, 2010, 2015, 2017, 2018 and 2019.

Today, the Thomaston Fire Department has approximately 45 active members and answers approximately 300 calls per year. The current fire equipment consists of a 1999 Spartan/Marion pumper, a 1999 Peterbilt/U.S. Tanker 3000 gallon tanker, a 2006 Spartan/Gowans-Knight pumper, a 2014 Smeal Rescue/Pumper, a 2015 Rosenbauer 101 foot aerial platform, a 2022 Spartan/Ferrara pumper, a 2022 Ram/Outback Fire Apparatus Mini Pumper, a 2004 Ford F-350 pickup Utility Vehicle, a 2017 Ford Police Interceptor Chief’s vehicle and a 2014 Ford F-150 pickup Assistant Chief’s vehicle.  We also have a Zodiac boat used for Region 5 Dive Team and a Polaris ATV used for brush fires and off road rescue incidents. 

With this word picture of the operation of our volunteer fire department, we wish to leave our readers with the thought that the past has not been good enough and that we are constantly endeavoring to improve our methods and tactics in the efficient manner of firefighting.  We urge each and every one to become more conscious of the devastation from fire and to assist our department in every possible manner in helping prevent this menace.  You may rest assured that the fire department will answer with expediency when called upon in an emergency, and that they will exert their best efforts in the face of any crisis with which they may be confronted.