Grafton Fire Department celebrates 100 years of community support

By Dave Ross
©2024 Telegraph Publishing LLC

The Grafton Fire Department was formally established at the March 4, 1924 Town Meeting exactly 100 years ago today and almost to the day of this year’s Town Meeting. This came about due to action by the Grafton Improvement Association that 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 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 was built in Windsor in the shop of John Cooper between 1827 and 1833. While there was an informal firefighting group in the village since at least 1847, the 1924 Town Meeting established the formal organization.

In April of that year, Harry A. Farnsworth was appointed as the first fire chief and, that summer, the Select Board purchased the Harley Leonard garage on what is now Kidder Hill Road to house the old pumper and the 24 pails gathered from the dance. A committee solicited donations of funds, materials and labor to repair the building.

Community support always would be critical to the fire department as it relocated to other buildings —  including our current fire house on Route 121.

In November 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.

The first “modern” fire engine was “acquired” in 1933 when a 1926 Cadillac touring car was purchased for $100 and firefighters retrofitted it using hammers and chisels. A pump, costing $600, was then mounted on it to create a fire engine. A suction hose was donated and additional hose was purchased for $320, bringing the total cost of the “new” fire engine to $1,020. It was in service for more than 20 years, from December 1934 until 1956.

Also 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 among its membership.

At the 1955 Town Meeting, 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. In 1938, its owner, John Butterworth Duncan, deeded the building to the town for a firehouse on the condition that the Cornet Band continue to occupy the second floor, which it does to this day. But 1938 was a difficult year for the building, which, along with the Post Office next door, was pushed off its foundation by flood waters from the hurricane of 1938. It wasn’t until 1951 that a rebuilt 1946 Dodge fire engine would find a place in the Main Street firehouse alongside 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 that building. Despite proposals to remodel the structure, it would remain with only two bays and no running water, no septic, and no office or storage space.

Once again, the Grafton community jumped in. This time it would raise funds to build a new firehouse, an effort spearheaded by another Mack — Fire Chief Stan Mack. He led the successful fundraising campaign resulting in the construction in 1992 of the current fire house on Route 121, just east of the Village.

The land had to be transferred between the Firefighters Association and the Windham Foundation, which has preserved the Grafton Cornet Band’s continued use of the second floor of the “old Firehouse” to this very day. 1992 not only ushered in a new firehouse — large enough to house the Grafton FAST-Rescue Squad, but also welcomed Grafton’s first woman firefighter, Joy Ellis. It also acquired its first aerial ladder truck, a 1973 Ward-LaFrance Telesquirt purchased from a Long Island department.

Community efforts again became the focus when the Fire Department sought donations and grants to purchase its first purpose built fire engine since 1968: a 1999 Freightliner American LaFrance 4 wheel drive, 1250 gpm engine/pumper. This was followed in 2002 by a new Freightliner American LaFrance ladder truck to replace the Telesquirt, since parts were no longer available.

For a number of years, firefighters were alerted to an emergency by an air horn mounted on the roof of the fire house. A combination of short and long blasts would indicate the location of the fire. At the 1972 Town Meeting, voters approved the purchase of a two-way radio so Grafton would no longer have 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 individual  two-way radios.

Now there are new challenges on the horizon. The Grafton Fire Department recently assumed responsibility for providing fire and emergency responses to the adjacent town of Athens.

The one constant through the Fire Department’s 100 year history has been the community’s support. Voters, organizations and individuals, particularly those who have served as firefighters and association members, created and now maintain the Grafton Fire Department. Fundraising events such as the Auxiliary Tag Sale and an annual appeal are a large part of the department’s funding that supplements the Town Meeting allocation.

It is this commitment to and by the community that will carry the volunteer Grafton Fire Department into the next 100 years.

Quite a number of artifacts from the early days in Grafton’s firefighting history can be viewed at the Grafton Historical Society, 147 Main St.

Grafton resident and retiring Town Moderator Dave Ross has been a Grafton firefighter for 21 years.