RUNS & WORKERS

Photo: Channel 4

On Feb. 28, 2013, a three-alarm fire gutted a commercial building at 119 Godwin Avenue in Paterson, New Jersey.

Photo: Paterson Retired Firefighters Facebook

Paterson's Truck 3, a 100-foot aerial, in action at mill fire on June 28, 1975 - a common occurrence in the "Sik City" over the decades. 

Engine 9's deck gun in action at fire in the Riverside section of Paterson, New Jersey, in the early 1980s. Photo from Vince Marchese collection, via Paterson Retired Firefighters Facebook.

HALEDON'S HORNS

Can't a guy get a good nap around here?

Your editor was born Feb. 13, 1958 at the Paterson General Hospital and spent the first 6 1/2 years of his life residing at his grandmother's home at 179 Lee Avenue, Haledon.

Within the my first 24 hours of crossing the threshold of that old house, the fire service was emblazoned upon my being:

Everyday at a noon the municipal fire horns would blare the signal 3-3-3.

Test. Test. Test.

Tell me that wouldn't startle a brand-spanking new Patersonian and soil a few diapers!

So much for my noon nap.

Almost 55 years later I suspect that may have been the start of my awareness and interest in fire engines, firefighters and fire alarm systems.

Over the years, I have accumulated a variety of fire service memorabilia -- including a list of Haledon's fire alarm signals.

The signals are reprinted herewith:

1 - Wire Trouble
2 - Fire Out
3 - Test
4 - Company 1 respond to firehouse
5 - Company 2 respond to firehouse
6 - General Alarm
7 - Fireman's Funeral Call
8 - Mutual Aid Cal
2-2-2 NO SCHOOL [Editor's note: My favorite!]
12 - Avenue B and Jasper Street
13 - Barbour Street and Lee Avenue [Editor's note: My Grandma Strobino's house!!]
14 - Belmont Avenue and Cook Street
15 - Belmont Avenue and Henry Street
16 - Lee Avenue and Legion Place
17 - Fire Co. No. 2
18 - Cliff and Oxford streets
21 - Clinton Street by the brook
23 - Belmont Avenue and Zabriske Street
24 - Barbour Street and Van Dyke Avenue
25 - Van Dyke Avenue and King Street
26 - Hobart Avenue and Tilt Street
27 - Norwood Street and Southside Avenue
28 - Central Avenue below Tilt Street
31 - Church Street, North of Brook
32 - Haledon Avenue and N. 16th Street
34 - Bernard and N. 12th Street
35 - Haledon Avenue and Kossuth Street
36 - Belmont Avenue and Kossuth Street
37 - North 15th and Post streets
38 - Cona Court
42 - Belmont and Buschmann avenues
43 - Former Columbia Silk Mills
45 - John Ryle Avenue and Willie Street
46 - Belmont Avenue and Beam Street
51 - Belmont Avenue and Church Street (Fire Co. No. 1)
52 - Kossuth Street School
53 - Allied Chemical Co. (Harmon Division)
61 - Pompton Road and West Haldeon Avenue
62 - Central and Stansfield avenues
63 - Sam Braen's Sons Quarry
64 - Central Avenue and Valley Road
65 - Valley View Sanatorium
67 - Pompton Road near Ailsa Avenue
112 - Preakness Avenue and Elm Street
113 - Aberdeen Court
115 - Manchester Regional High School
234 - ADT Alarm

LOUIS PONSTINGEL

Photo: Paterson Retired Firefighters

On Oct. 18, 1984, a general alarm fire killed 15 people at the Alexander Hamilton Hotel  in Paterson - and Louis Ponstingel was working the midnight to 8 a.m. shift as a Paterson fire dispatcher.

"The usual procedure is to look up the box number and address of the incident, the cross streets and the companies to respond," he said. "I for some reason pulled the whole card file and proceeded immediately to send the box."

Ponstingel's father, also named Louis, was the captain in charge of Engine 10 that night and "he and his men were credited with saving many lives," Ponstingel said by e-mail on Oct. 18, 2012. ""If anything there was an angel sending the box out expeditiously and, who knows, may have helped save someone."

CITY OF PASSAIC

  

CITY OF PASSAIC FIRE DEPARTMENT
ROLL OF HONOR

 

Lieutenant James J. Delaney
April 15, 1911
Killed when the three-ton hose and chemical truck he was riding overturned on Passaic Street en route to a tenement fire. He died at St. Mary’s Hospital.

Deputy Chief John Doremus and firefighter Edmund Hutchinson
Dec. 20, 1955
Killed when the chief’s car they rode in collided with Truck Company 1 at Passaic and Main avenues. The accident prompted the department to upgrade its radio system and sirens.

Firefighter William Jackson
Feb. 17, 1960
Killed while fighting a blaze inside a building when a wall collapsed, pinning him against a fire truck.

Battalion Chief Joseph Griffin and firefighter Samuel Latona
March 12, 1970
Killed when a wall collapsed at 181 Third St. during one of the city’s most intense blazes. Several injured firefighters were pulled from the rubble.

Firefighter Alberto Tirado
May 9, 2001
Killed trying to rescue children he believed were trapped in an apartment building. He died of smoke inhalation.

Sources: Passaic Fire Department; Herald News archives.

HACKENSACK - 1988

U.S. Fire Administration

On July 1, 1988, a fire at the Ford Auto Dealership in Hackensack, New Jersey, took the lives of five firefighters when a bowstring truss roof collapsed.

Just a minute prior to the collapse the incident commander had instructed the firefighters working on the interior to “back your lines out.”

This message was not heard due to defective fireground communications equipment.

Debris from the subsequent roof collapse pinned three firefighters while two others escaped to an adjacent room.

These two firefighters radioed for assistance but neither the incident commander nor the fire alarm dispatcher picked up the calls for help.

By the time word was relayed to the incident commander from civilians picking up the calls for help on their scanners it was too late to effect a rescue.

___

Associated Press

HACKENSACK, N. J. - Five firemen killed when a burning roof collapsed onto them were like "family" in this city, which never had a firefighter die in the line of duty.

"There are only 100 of us in this department and this is just a small place," Fire Chief ANTHONY AIELLOS said Friday. "In a town like this these are your friends."

"It's a sad day in Hackensack," added Mayor FRED CERBO. "We've never had anything like this in our city before. To have five firemen die is just incredible."

The fire, which destroyed the building and contents of a car dealership, started shortly after 3 p.m. Friday in the rear service section of the building, AIELLOS said.

The ceiling collapsed as the firefighters, who were inside the building, were cutting a hole in it to get a hose on flames in a space between the ceiling and the roof, AIELLOS said.

"All of a sudden the entire 60-foot square inside ceiling fell on them," he said, adding that four other firefighters inside at the time escaped injury.

All of Hackensack's 100 firefighters as well as units from surrounding towns responded to the blaze, which was under control by 6:30 p.m.

Hundreds of bystanders watched along the busy intersection in this New York suburb of 40,000 people while the firefighters' bodies were placed in ambulances.

Many clutched friends when stretchers bearing the bodies came briefly into view.

The victims were Capt. RICHARD WILLIAMS, 54, Lt. RICHARD REINHOGEN, 48, and firefighters WILLIAM KREJSA, 52, LEONARD RADUMSKI, 38, and STEPHEN ENNIS, 30.

All five were from Hackensack.

CAPTAIN ARMONA - 1975

Photos: Paterson Retired Firefighters Facebook page

On April 6, 1975, Paterson Fire Capt. Fred Armona was killed in the collapse of the Fourth Christian Reformed Church at Fourth Avenue and East 19th Street.

Box 638 was transmitted at 1:43 p.m. and escalated to a general alarm.

Armona, 56, and several other men were on a hose line when the walls of the wooden church fell outward, sending the roof plunging into the sanctuary.

The church was built in 1911 and the congregation relocated to a site in Wyckoff .

Fire departments from the neighboring communities of Haledon, Prospect Park and Hawthrone provided mutual aid.

Armona was assigned to Engine Company 11, which was located at 97 Grand Street.

On the same day, Paterson firefighters contended with a blaze at an abandoned dye house on River Street, according to a newspaper account.

RIOT DUTY, PATERSON - 1960s

Race riots plagued the U.S. in the 1960s. 

In August 1964, trouble erupted in Paterson "when a pack of carousing teen-agers in the slum Fourth Ward began pelting passing police cars with bottles and rocks," according to Time magazine.

Soon hundreds were in the streets, "smashing windows and hurling debris at police," according to Time.

Rioting continued on-and-off in Paterson through the decade amid decaying economic conditions.

Top photos shows open cab modified to deflect rocks, bottles and other debris on Paterson Truck 1, a 1962 Pirsch aerial ladder.

PATERSON LUMBER YARD - 1961

Photo: Paterson Retired Firefighters Facebook

 Top image shows Paterson News account of general alarm at Dillistin Lumber Co., 178 18th Ave., Paterson, N.J., on June 18, 1961, from the collection of Vince Marchese. Box 427 was transmitted at 6:30 p.m. Photo below shows  Ken West, Tony Gaita, Fred Armona (killed in 1975 church fire), Walt McMahon, George Stanton, Jim Farrell and Ted Guerall, from the collection of Debra Burns.

FRANKLIN FINISHING - 1963

Photos: Fire Engineering,  Vince Marchese collection 

On Oct. 21, 1963, an explosion leveled Franklin Finishing, a textile dye house at 178 Keen St. in Paterson, N.J. Box 656 was transmitted at 12:33 p.m. Ladder 3 was destroyed by the blaze.  (Your editor was a kindergarten student in Haledon at the time and recalls learning about the explosion from his parents.)

GUARDIAN ANGEL

Photo: Paterson Retired Firefighters Facebook

Saved! Paterson Fire Capt. Mario Colatarci and child in photo from Debra Burns collection.

'GOOD NIGHT IRENE'

Hurricane Irene flooded Paterson and neighboring communities in late August 2011. President Obama toured the city on Sept. 4, 2011 and met with flood victims. In official FEMA photo, Obama consoles woman. In official White House photo, Obama visits neighborhood in Wayne.

ST. JOE'S

St. Joseph's Regional Medical Center provides support for the Paterson Fire Department after torrential rain caused flooding in March 2011.

ON THE NOZZLE

Photo: Paterson Retired Firefighters Facebook

Paterson firefighters Vito Mangani of Ladder 3, Kenny Merenco of Squad 1 (flying squad) and Joe Pellicotti of Engine 12

QUACKENBUSH WAREHOUSE - 1938

UPDATED JAN. 16, 2018

On March 12, 1938, five Paterson firemen died at a general alarm fire at the Quackenbush Co. department store warehouse - the greatest tragedy in the fire department's history.

Deputy Chief James Sweeney and the crew of Engine Co. 5 were buried in rubble when a brick wall collapsed at Box 474 - 51-55 Prospect St.

``Only two or three fire crews were at the scene when tonight's tragedy occurred, their job being not only to wet down the ruins but also to remove debris that might endanger public safety,'' The New York Times reported.

``At the time the wall collapsed, the firemen were devising a means to to pull it down because they knew it was in danger of falling,'' the Times said:

The fallen:

•Deputy Chief James Sweeny, 58
•Capt. John Davenport, 44, of Engine 5
•Fireman Louis Rodesky, 49, of Engine 5
•Fireman Matthew O'Neill, 45, of Engine 5
•Fireman William Lynch, 37, of Engine 5

Fire Engineering reported in its May 1938 edition: ``Deputy Chief Sweeney with Captain Davenport and members of Engine 5 entered an alley about 8 feet wide ... From the alley the men were trying to pour water on a fire that was still burning  in the center of the brick warehouse.''

That's where they lost their lives.

Only one member of  Engine 5 survived, the pump operator.

When Engine 5 reported back to quarters, he said: ``No. 5 reporting back to quarters ... I'm all alone chief.''

The first alarm was transmitted at 1:58 p.m. followed by the second alarm at 2:01 p.m., the third at 2:09 p.m., the fourth at 2:12 p.m., the fifth at 2:14 p.m. and the sixth at 2:23 p.m.

Thirteen engines and three trucks took in the blaze, while Haledon, Prospect Park and Little Falls covered the rest of the city.

The warehouse, consisting of a pair old buildings - a former church and a former a garage, was filled with bedding, furniture and assorted merchandise, Fire Engineering said.

Customers and staff were evacuated from the adjoining department store.

The fire was considered under control at 5 p.m. and crews began returning to quarters.

Then disaster struck 7:50 p.m.

ALL IN THE FAMILY, PATERSON STYLE

Photo: Paterson Retired Firefighters Facebook

PATERSON'S FLYING SQUAD

Photo: Paterson Retired Firefighters Facebook

Paterson's busy Squad Company 1, a 1976 Ford crew cab F350, at old Fire Headquarters on Van Houten Street. This "flying squad" carried a supplemental crew of Paterson firefighters equipped with breathing apparatus to fires across the city.

PATERSON ENGINES 2 & 8

Photos: Paterson Retired Firefighters Facebook

1953 Seagrave pumpers assigned to Engine 2 and Engine 8. Engine 2 is equipped with a makeshift roof for the open cab to protect crews during the race riots of the 1960s. This was a common practice in many cities.

MANCINELLI FUNERAL

Photo: Paterson Retired Firefighters Facebook

On March 1, 1973, Capt. Frank Mancinelli, of Truck 3, was fatally injured at a three-alarm fire on Paterson Street. Mancinelli, 49, died at St. Joseph's Hospital after falling down a 40-foot airshaft, according to The New York Times. Two years later, firefighters mourned another of their brothers. Capt. Fred Armona died in a fire and collapse at the Fourth Christian Reformed Church in April 1975.

PATERSON FISCAL CRISIS - 1982

Photo: Paterson Retired Firefighters Facebook

SANITARIUM - 1903

On Jan. 23, 1903, a Paterson firefighter, Felix McCann of Truck 2, was injured by a falling chimney at a fire at River Lawn Sanitarium, a psychiatric hospital.

"Both arms are broken and his skull is fractured," The New York Times reported. Three other firefighters were also hurt.

The sanitarium's 30 patients were evacuated from the three-story brick brick and frame structure, and "some of the more recently admitted had to be carried out," according to the newspaper.

An oil stove used for heating "burst or was upset," the Times said.

FATAL HOUSE FIRE - 2010

Photo: WCBS

On July 1, 2010, flames engulfed a house at 465 East 31st Street in Paterson, killing four people - including a woman who jumped from the second floor, according to media reports.

Three other people were injured. Public Safety Director Glenn Brown called the early morning fire one of the deadliest since an arsonist killed 14 people at the Alexander Hamilton Hotel in 1984, according to NorthJersey.com. The dwelling had been cited by the city for electrical code violations earlier in the year.

According to the Paterson Fire Department web site:

"First arriving units encountered a 2 1/2 story wood frame house fully involved with fire, with extension into 463 and 467 E 31st St. Due to reports of numerous occupants trapped in the fire buildings, a 2nd and 3rd alarms were transmitted, bringing all of Paterson’s manpower and equipment to the scene.

"Rescue 2 along with Ladder 1 entered the rear of 465 E 31 St. to initiate a primary search but were driven back by the intense heat and heavy smoke conditions. Interior attacks were deployed in both 463 E 31 St. and 467 E 31 St. by additional units. It took over 3 hours for this fire to be brought under control."

Paterson received mutual aid from other fire departments.

YMHA LEAK - 1949

On Feb. 17, 1949, chlorine gas sickened 17 people - including several firefighters - at the Young Men's and Young Women's Hebrew Association building in Paterson.

"Police said a pipe connection came loose while workmen were removing the chlorination system, used to purify water in the swimming pool," The New York Times reported.

An injured firefighter, Milton Katz of Engine Co. 5, was placed in an oxygen tent at St. Joseph's Hospital, the newspaper said.

FIVE FIREMEN HURT - 1910

FIRE LOSS HALF A MILLION

Business District of Paterson, N. J., Is Swept.

PATERSON, N. J., June 28 -Fire early today swept a block on Main street, from Ward to Market streets, in this city, causing a loss estimated at $500,000. Five firemen were injured by falling walls and others had narrow escapes. Help from outside had to be asked by the local firemen.

The burned buildings include the Van Dyke Furniture company's store, where the fire started; the Linckwood Brother's furniture store building, the Donahue building. Dailey's moving picture house and a number of smaller structures. The burned area is only a block away from the path of Paterson's big fire of 1908.

(Editor's Note: Writer probably meant "big fire of 1902.")

Nebraska State Journal, June 29, 1910 via www.gendisasters.com

CHEMICAL PLANT - 1998

"On April 8, 1998, an explosion and fire occurred during the production of Automate Yellow 96 Dye at the Morton International Inc. plant in Paterson, New Jersey. The explosion and fire were the consequence of a runaway reaction, which overpressurized a 2000-gallon chemical vessel and released flammable material that ignited. Nine employees were injured." - Chemical Safety Board

FIRE ALARM

"This 14 x 20 metal sign hung for many years in front of the Paterson, New Jersey Fire Alarm Telegraph Office," according to an article in the April 1988 edition of Crown Jewels of the Wire, a magazine for collectors of glass and porcelain insulators used by telegraph, telephone and electric wires.

PATERSON ENGINE 12

The Paterson Fire Journal received this photo of Engine 12's crew - circa 1930s or 1940s - from Bridget Westhoven. She writes: "I wish I had more background on this photo. It belonged to Edward (Eddie) Westhoven. Notation on the back indicates that these men were all members of Engine Company 12 (Paterson). Left to right: Bill McKelney, Ernie Wildermuth, Edward Westhoven and Howard Probert.''

GREAT FALLS - 1983

Photo: patersongreatfalls.org

Ruins of Allied Textile Co. two decades after the fire

In 1983, Paterson's Great Falls Historic District was the scene of two general alarms fires - just weeks apart.

On June 24 of that year, Box 176 was transmitted at 3:55 a.m. for the Allied Textile Co. mill at 1 Van Houten St. Ten or more firefighters suffered minor injuries at the blaze.

The same box was struck on May 29, 1983 for a factory at 21 Market St. That alarm was received at 4:06 a.m, according to the book ``Taking the Heat,'' a history of the Paterson Fire Department published in 1985.

FAMILY LOST - 1975

Hartford Courant, March 29, 1975

PATERSON, N.J. (AP) -- Three children and their grandmother, who authorities say were just yards away from safety, have died in an apartment fire here.

Editor's Note: Your editor was a teenage volunteer at the Greater Paterson General Hospital in Wayne when one or two of the fire victims, covered in soot, arrived at the emergency room in cardiac arrest. I remember that one of the firemen was still donned in his turnout gear at the hospital. The emergency room smelled of smoke. As I recall hearing it, some of the victims sought refuge under a bed.

CHAPLAIN MOURNED

Photo: West Paterson Fire Dept. web site

Rev. John Piccione, firemen's chaplain
Tuesday, February 24, 2009

By JAY LEVIN
NorthJersey.com

The Rev. John T. Piccione, the Paterson Fire Department's revered Catholic chaplain, died Sunday. He was 44 and known around city firehouses as "the padre."

He had leukemia, said his order, the Franciscan Friars of Holy Name Province.

"Whether at 2 in the afternoon or 2 in the morning, 80 degrees or 8 degrees, he was there with us," said Deputy Fire Chief Joseph A. Murray.

Sometimes Father Piccione showed up in his brown robe. Sometimes he showed up in street clothes. But he always showed up — to minister to first responders at emergency scenes, to offer counseling and to preside at weddings, baptisms and funerals.

Sometimes he visited firehouses just to watch a ballgame with the guys.

"Everything a priest does in his own parish, he did for us, and then some," Murray said. "I once called Father John and got him while he was at a cardiologist's office waiting to take a stress test. He said, 'I'll be there in five minutes.'

"We are never going to fill his shoes."

Father Piccione, also chaplain for the West Paterson Volunteer Fire Department and Passaic County Prosecutor's Office, was known to fire and police agencies throughout Passaic and Bergen counties. When Fair Lawn Police Officer Mary Ann Collura was gunned down in the line of duty in 2003, it was Father Piccione who went to St. Joseph's Hospital and Medical Center to bless her body, Murray said.

Father Piccione was introduced to fire chaplaincy by the Rev. Mychal Judge, a fellow Franciscan who was the New York City Fire Department chaplain.

Judge's death on 9/11 — he was giving last rites to a fireman at the World Trade Center when he was struck by falling debris — deeply affected Father Piccione.

"He'd take me along, and he told me if I had any chance to become a fire chaplain, I should do it," Father Piccione said of Judge in 2003.

PASSAIC LABOR DAY - 1985

UPDATED SEPT. 2016 & JULY 2021

Photos: Passaic Fire Dept. 

On Labor Day 1985, fire leveled 18 factories and 23 homes in the City of Passaic and led to the death of a mutual aid firefighter.

The disaster crippled the local economy, destroying businesses and putting more than 2,000 people out of work.

Police arrested two boys, ages 12 and 13, for starting the the blaze at the Gera Mills Industrial Park on Sept. 2, 1985.

''They have admitted to setting the fire,'' Passaic Mayor Joseph Lipari said at a news conference at City Hall. ''They stated they were playing with matches.''

Passaic firefighters were crippled by a lack of water, staffing shortages and antiquated radio communications and relied on mutual aid from from across North Jersey.

A member of the Secaucus Fire Department, William Koenemund, 65, suffered a fatal heart attack.

Koenemund, described as "100% fireman" by a chief officer, was working the ladders when he took ill, the Hudson Reporter said.

Eleven other firefighters were injured.

Stephen Geosits III, a rookie firefighter at the time, recalled "an old-timer firefighter saying to me, 'Hey, kid, take a look at this, 'cause you're never going to see this again.' "

In a story marking the 25th anniversary of the disaster, NorthJersey.com said:

Investigators traced the fire's source to an alleyway between two six-story factories at 122 and 130 Eighth St., where two boys tossed matches into a refuse bin containing naphthalene, a highly flammable chemical used to make mothballs. Once lit, the fire spread rapidly between buildings and from one side of the street to the other.

Fueled by chemicals stored in some of the Eighth Street factories, the fire spread quickly, consuming six industrial buildings. Low water pressure from hydrants and a strong wind compounded firefighters' troubles extinguishing the blaze on the particularly warm day. More than 100 hydrants in the area had been shut to prevent people from opening them to cool off during the summer.

In addition, a 100,000-gallon water tank that fed firefighting appliances had sat empty and inoperable for at least two years before the fire.

In all, 300 firefighters from 39 departments worked for 12 hours to control the blaze, which smoldered for weeks.

Products that burned included paints, chemicals, solvents, postage stamps, vinyl wall coverings, cardboard boxes, yarn, handkerchiefs and polyester cloth, The New York Times reported, as well as costumes stored in a warehouse for the New York City Opera.

OLD GOOSENECK

Photo: www.firehistory.org

Hand-pumped fire engine that served Paterson in early 1800s.

PASSAIC'S DEATH CAR - 1914

TWO HURT IN "DEATH CAR."

Passaic Fire Auto, Which Once Killed Two Men, Again Upsets.

Special to The New York Times.

PASSAIC, N. J., Nov. 21.---Racing along Erie Street at a high rate of speed today, Engine Six, an automobile fire engine, turned turtle near Lafayette Avenue. John Farrell and John Ackerman, fireman, were badly injured. Both are at St. Mary's Hospital suffering with bruises and internal injuries. Farell's legs are broken. The big auto is almost a total wreck.

This is the same auto in which Charles Cowley, then Secretary of the Passaic Board of Education, and Lieutenant James J. Delaney were killed five years ago when it ran into an iron telephone pole. Since then it has been known as "the car of death, " and many firemen have refused to ride in it.

The New York Times - Nov. 22, 1914

DISASTER AVERTED

TIME MAGAZINE
Monday, May. 15, 1933

HEROES:
Six Orphans

Early one evening last week a heavy rainstorm drenched New Jersey. At the Passaic Home & Orphan Asylum, six boys - Jacob Merlnizek, John Murdock, Douglas Fleming, Rudolph Borsche' Frank & Michael Mazzola, all between 11 and 15 - were worried.

Maybe their baseball field was washing away. They cunningly approached their matron. Didn't she want to know if the rain had damaged her garden? She did. She said they might go out if they were careful to put on raincoats and rubbers.

A quick look at the garden showed that it was all right. Closer inspection of the baseball diamond, where they played with worn-out canvas gloves and three damaged bats, was equally reassuring. Then the boys saw something else. A washout had completely carried away the ballast from under a section of track on the nearby Erie R. R. right-of-way!

Aware that an 8:10 commuting train was soon due, the boys pulled off their raincoats, ran down the track waving them wildly. The engineer said that if the boys had not been spry they would have been killed as he jerked his train to a stop, saving the lives of 500 passengers.

The grateful Erie promised a handsome award to the young Passaic heroes. The Mayor & Commissioners of Passaic planned to strike medals in their honor. Photographers and reporters flocked to the asylum. Was there anything they particularly wanted done? Yes. said the boys. Just make sure Babe Ruth heard about them.

Following Saturday, Passaic's small heroes met some of their big heroes at the circus in Manhattan. Clyde Beatty. tamer of lions and tigers, shook their hands and gave autographs. Hugo Zacchini, the human cannonball, greeted them. Gene Tunney came over to say hello. Max Schmeling invited them to his training camp at Oak Ridge, N. J. Babe Ruth, who sent each boy a telegram, will have them up to the Yankee Stadium soon, promises to try and knock a home-run in their honor.

CAPTAIN MCGUIRE

One of Paterson's most decorated firefighters, Captain Elliot McGuire, died Nov. 29 after a brief fight with pancreatic cancer, according to the web site NorthJersey.com.

McGuire, who was 66, thrived under pressure and dangerous conditions, according to colleagues.

During his 34-year career, McGuire received commendations for lifesaving, including a 1993 blaze in which he directed firefighters to evacuate a house before it was swept by flames.

"Elliot was a fireman's fireman," said Captain Mike Barr, quoted by NorthJersey.com. "He had the knowledge. He had experience and he inspired guys by just going to fires with him.''

McGuire was promoted to captain in 1992, and worked at Engine Co. 2 in the Riverside and Ladder Co. 1 at fire headquarters, according to the web site.

In 1989, McGuire rescued a child from a fire on Godwin Avenue and revived the 7-year-old victim with CPR. In 1981, he helped rescue five people from a Park Avenue fire.

The save most remembered, though, was the 1993 house fire on East 23rd Street. Captain Mike D'Arco, one of the firefighters to escape, said: ``I used to call him my savior."

CHIEF MADAMA

From NorthJersey.com

A Life: Sal Madama, 1911-2008
Sunday, October 19, 2008

Sal Madama retired from firefighting in 1976. Or did he?

Well into his 90s, Mr. Madama showed fellow residents of St. Joseph's Home for the Elderly in Totowa how to use the extinguisher.

He spent Thursday evenings at local firehouses — "chewing the rag," as his wife, Mary Ann, put it, but also sharing his vast knowledge with far younger colleagues.

Once a fireman, always a fireman. And Mr. Madama, who died Tuesday at 97, had as legendary a career as any.

He joined his hometown Paterson Fire Department in 1939. He was 27, and adrift.

"I had no desire for nothing," Mr. Madama once recalled. "I took the fire test because my friend took it, and I came out 22nd."

Over the next 36 years, he held every position of consequence in the department, all the way up to chief. On his own, Mr. Madama — who had college degrees in public safety and public administration — conducted classes for small-town volunteer firefighters throughout North Jersey.

His mantras were "discipline" and "training."

"Discipline and training go hand in hand," he told volunteers in Denville, according to a 1967 story in the Paterson Morning Call. "Without discipline, line officers cannot carry out orders of the chief. It must be second nature to respond to orders."

As his career was winding down, Mr. Madama became the fire chief in Laconia, N.H. He retired after a year and returned to New Jersey, continuing to teach fire science at the community college level.

HALEDON

Vintage photo of Haledon Fire Company No. 1

Paterson ladder company (left) at Haledon fire

PATERSON'S FAREWELL TO HORSES

Central fire station, 115 Van Houten St., opened March 19, 1912 as quarters of Engine Co. 1 and Engine Co. 5. Later that year, Truck Co. 2 moved in. In 1982, it was replaced by the Madison Avenue station, on former site of Paterson General Hospital.

Edison Monthly
January 1921

A COMPLETELY motorized fire department — the largest in the state and one of the first in the country — is the source of a great deal of pride on the part of the citizens of Paterson, New Jersey.

Additional interest is due to the fact that the motorization was accomplished through the conversion of horse-drawn trucks to automobiles, and further, that the apparatus is electrically driven.

As a result of the changes Paterson now has speedy and dependable fire equipment, economy of operation is assured, because electrics can be operated at a lower cost than any other type; and because it was possible to convert horse vehicle into motors, the city avoided the waste of scrapping apparatus which though old, was still good for many years of service.

The importance of adequate fire protection for a city of the industrial importance of this silk manufacturing center, with its great mill districts, its large foreign population, its many hilly streets, and a residential district where the houses are, as a rule, of frame construction, need hardly be commented upon.

The Paterson Fire Department consists of fifteen companies and the electric apparatus includes nine engines, ten combination wagons, and three ladder trucks.

Central Fire Station

These are stationed at strategic points throughout the city and the headquarters building is on Van Houten Street.

The garage and repair shop of the department are on the ground floor of this building. Executive offices. dormitories, a social hall, and handball courts are on the upper floors.

The headquarters building was erected after the installation of automobiles was decided upon and consequently was designed especially to provide garage facilities.

The other buildings, however, were remodeled, the changes from stables to garages being made when the vehicles themselves were being rebuilt.

Use of Electricity

The work consisted principally of installing equipment for charging the storage batteries and such machine shop facilities as were needed for making the routine adjustments to the fire apparatus.

The charging outlets were suspended from the ceiling in such a way that two batteries could be charged from the same plug.

The electrification of the Department began in 1917 after an unsatisfactory experience with gasoline drive.

Five pieces of electrical apparatus were purchased from the Commercial Truck Company.

These were Engine Number One and its Combination Wagon and Engine and Wagon Number Five and Truck Number Two.

Standard fire fighting equipment was mounted on specially designed electric chassis and so satisfactory did they prove that complete electrification was decided upon.

Electric Drive

While the first pieces were built as electrics, the balance were converted by removing the gasoline drive then in use, and installing electric drive.
Thus, much of the equipment, has undergone three revolutionary changes: as built originally it was drawn by horses; later gasoline tractors replaced the horses, and finally the electric motors and storage batteries were installed.

The method of changing the apparatus was in itself interesting.

In the case of the familiar engine, all the running gear forward of the gooseneck was removed, and channel beams, long enough and heavy enough to carry the storage batteries, the chauffeur's seat, and the driving and steering apparatus, were riveted on.

The rear wheels, the boiler, and the pumping apparatus were not touched.

Ladders

In changing the ladder trucks the frame was extended to provide place for the driving mechanism, the battery box was suspended under the frame and just forward of the rear wheels, and an entirely new set of wheels was mounted , each wheel having its individual motor.

A similar lengthening and strengthening of the frame and the installation of motors for each of the rear wheels accomplished the same result for the combination wagons.

Visitors to the New York Electrical Show of 1919 will recall the combination wagon which was exhibited.

This was one of the Paterson vehicles and was on its way from Philadelphia, where the Commercial Truck Company had made the changes, when the Paterson officials consented to its stopping over in New York.

By 1919, sixteen of the twenty-five pieces of apparatus had been changed to electric, and by the end of 1920 only three gasoline vehicles remained.

Speed of Vehicles

The speed of electric apparatus in reaching fires is strikingly shown in the annual report of 1919, the last year for which complete figures are available.

During 1919, the department responded to 511 alarms and reached the fires so promptly that in only four cases did the blaze extend beyond the original building.

The damage in the most disastrous fire of the year amounted to only $209,000.

The average loss in the next four fires was less than $50,000 while the average loss in all fires, including the big ones was less than $900.

Trials designed to show the fitness of electric trucks for fire department work were conducted recently by Thomas Coyle, Chief of the Paterson Fire Department.

One of the combination chemical trucks, weighing seven tons, was employed for the purpose, and heads of the fire departments of neighboring cities, including New York, as well as many of those interested in the electric vehicle industry, were present.

Negotiating Hills

Three hills were negotiated.

The first, on Temple Street, had a grade of fourteen per cent and was long but the truck climbed the distance in one minute and fifteen seconds.

The second grade was the Cliff Street incline of seventeen per cent which was achieved in the running time of sixty-two seconds.

Not only did the electric climb from a standing start, but it stopped in the middle of the hill and started again without any kind of assistance.

The third attempt was made over the Haledon Avenue course of nine blocks with an eight per cent grade and the climb was completed in the astonishingly short time of two minutes and two seconds.

A speed of thirty-four miles per hour was maintained on the level and at no time was any difficulty or hindrance experienced.

In reply to a question regarding the ability of the electric trucks to proceed under adverse weather conditions Chief Coyle made the statement that

"If electric trucks could not get through the winter snows nothing could" and that he and his associates believed that "the electric trucks are the most reliable, least expensive and best type of vehicle for fire department usage."

The Shops

Added to this testimony is that of Captain William H Ward who is in charge of the extensive workshop of the Central Fire Headquarters.

Captain Ward said that the labors of his department had "decreased nearly seventy per cent since the introduction of electric trucks three years ago," and that "except when they smashed into trees, not one of the electrics has ever been out of service for as long as twenty-four hours."

In fact there are now so few repairs called for, that Captain Ward has reduced his force of mechanics to one.

Under this arrangement the Captain does practically all of the repair work on apparatus while his "force" has kept busy during the fall and winter repairing the roofs of the engine houses.