A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE OAKLAND VOLUNTEER FIRE DEPARTMENT

1909 – 2014

The Origins of the Oakland Volunteer Fire Department

History records that in November, 1903 a major fire was discovered at the large barn of the Calder estate then located where the Coppertree Mall is currently situated and the need for a fire department in Oakland became apparent. Six years later on June 10,1909 a informal meeting was held at Ivy Hall to create a volunteer fire department in Oakland. Ludo Wilkins, the owner of the Wilkins Brush Factory in Oakland, was appointed as the first fire chief. And he served six terms as chief until 1916.

In December, 1911 the Oakland Volunteer Fire Department was officially born with the passage of an ordinance by the mayor and council establishing it as a formal part of this borough. But by 1920 interest in the fire department began to lag until Harry Gale McNomee began a successful campaign to re-ignite interest. By 1935 Mr. McNomee became fire commissioner, the only exempt fireman ever to hold the office.

The OVFD suffered another severe manpower shortage during WW II as the complement of active firemen was reduced to eight volunteers. Seniors and women were recruited to serve in the Oakland Fire Reserves.

Training

A OVFD candidate must complete 200 hours of intensive fire fighting training But formalized, mandatory training, drills etc. has not always been the norm. For a number of years the department was summoned to aid in asphyxiation cases because of the fact that they had the only resuscitator in the borough. Every fireman was required to satisfactorily complete a First Aid course.

Firehouses

In 1909 the OVFD was a fire department on paper. But two years later when a fireman’s ball was held in December, 1910 it raised $300, sufficient to purchase the land from Mr. David C. Bush and materials for the firehouse. Gideon DeWitt was the builder. On January 1, 1912 Mayor Edward page officially accepted the deed to the new firehouse.

In 1922 Ivy Hall, Oakland’s Town Hall, was destroyed by fire. The decision was made to expand the firehouse and move the Oakland offices to it. The firehouse was doubled in size and a second floor was added. After several expansions it was used as the municipal offices of Oakland, the police department, a voting place, a hall for public affairs, a gym for the Oakland Military Academy, Oakland’s jail and in 1939, it served as the home of the Oakland Library.

By 1944 the original firehouse would be reinforced to accommodate a new fire truck and again in 1954 when it was expanded adding 4 rooms in the rear of the building. Hence the original single story building housed virtually every major official function of Oakland.

In 1959 a new borough hall was built. Proposals were made and officially sanctioned to build an emergency services building to house both the fire department and the ambulance corps. This initiative was also opposed by the OVFD and it failed.

In the same year an additional firehouse on Hiawatha Blvd for Company 2, the Home of the Ironmen, was built and which was subsequently designated as the Arthur H. Bunger Memorial Firehouse in 1979. And it too was expanded in 2002.

In 1965 funding was approved to erect a new firehouse to be built on a parcel across the street from the original. That location was a result of a land swap. The new Ben H. Wood Firehouse was completed in 1966 and modified in 2000. In 1984 a new 2-bay firehouse, the John L. Bigley Memorial Firehouse, was built and donated to Oakland by the McBrides in the McBride Industrial Complex off of Longhill Road.

Fire Alert Systems

In 1911 there were only a few telephones installed at that time. The immediate solution was the erection of 3 locomotive rings in strategic parts of Oakland. In 1917 the OVFD Ladies Auxiliary donated a new, 1,280 pound fire bell to be placed in the firehouse belfry. However, it could not be installed because of its great weight and was subsequently made as a replacement of the locomotive ring near the railroad station. It served proudly there until 1925 when it was replaced by a siren in the belfry of the firehouse.

In November of 1942 the Oakland Volunteer Fire Department donated the original locomotive fire rings and the original fire bell to the war effort. The fire alarm rings standing in front of Yawpo and Hiawatha firehouses are not the originals.

The siren alert system was augmented by the civic-minded Art Seel who owned a tavern on the NE corner of Ramapo Valley Road and Yawpo Avenue. He was the connect point between a reported fire and the initiation of a response. A citizen could simply dial #5831 to reach Mr. Seel and the OVFD.

This relatively ad hoc alert system was replaced in 1952 by a combination of a new and more reliable siren network coupled with a new telephone alert system. Telephones with a special siren activation button were placed in the homes of key first responders. That system was ultimately replaced in the 1970s by Instalert radios to call first responders. That system in turn was phased out in the late 1980s in favor of pagers. Currently the Oakland Office of Emergency management is sponsoring the Modern Audible Emergency Alert System based in part upon advanced siren technology using directional sirens. It’s used for fires, school closings and as a warning system.

Notable Fires

Some fires are remembered more than others. The following standouts.

The first was really two fires occurring simultaneously in 1916 when the barns of Charles Sheffield and Edward Page caught fire at the same time. This overwhelmed the leadership of the new Department as both structures were lost completely.

A disastrous fire struck the Page estate house nine years when it was Mount Melchesidech, a Catholic seminary. The cause of the fire was unknown and the difficulty in fighting the fire was magnified by the distance of water from its private reservoir. The wood building was completely lost. Tragedy struck Oakland on March 4, 1942 when Osmond Edward Saunders died in a fire in his home. It was the first fire-related fatality of the OVFD.

Four years later the Ramapo mountains were ablaze threatening Camp Todd, Camp Tamarack and Camp Glen Gray. The fire burned for four days and was finally brought under control by the use of controlled backfires.

In the winter of 1978, there was another fire immediately south of Skyline Drive in the current Ramapo Forest. An abandoned guesthouse, built years earlier on an island was ablaze. from unknown origins. There was nothing that the firemen could do. It was left to safely burn itself out.

The home of the Oakland Elks Club caught fire on a foggy night on March 11, 1980. This fire on Route 202 was not quickly discovered and when finally reported, the building was fully ablaze.

Mullers Park, then FRG, was a major attraction as a river-beach resort since the 1920s. There was a large, three-story barn that survived through these transitions. In 1987 the abandoned barn was reported to be ablaze precisely at the same time as a meeting of the OVFD. The barn was fully engulfed in flames. Although mutual aid calls immediately went out ,they were to no avail as the 100 year-old barn was completely destroyed.

Fire Fighting Equipment

The original ‘equipment’ of the OVFD virtually consisted of some well-worn water buckets and a few fire extinguishers. The OVFD raised $210 themselves via charitable events, oyster supers, etc. to purchase a hand or horse drawn 50-gallon mobile soda-acid tank.

In 1916 the borough purchased a hand- cranked 1917 Ford Model T truck that carried approximately 30 fire extinguishers and a few firefighters. In 1920 the mobile capabilities of the soda-acid tank were upgraded by the generous donation of a 1920 Charmers automobile by Mrs. Remington Vernam. Ultimately fire fighting capabilities were augmented by the placement of two and one-half gallon fire extinguishers in various homes throughout the borough. In 1925 the first true pumper was purchased by Oakland. This was augmented in 1929 via the purchase of a Chevrolet 350 gpm pumper. Both trucks enabled the OVFD to continuously use any available natural source of water to fight a fire.

In 1931 as eight miles of water mains and 80 fire hydrants were installed. No longer would our firemen be restricted to either carrying their own water and chemicals to a fire or limited to obtaining water from ponds, brooks and streams. Today there are approximately 500 fire hydrants connected to over 60 miles of municipal water mains in Oakland.

Ladies Auxiliary

The initial purpose of this fine group was to assist in the raising of funds to support the efforts of the OVFD and to assist in the purchase of new equipment. Most, if not all, were wives of the founding charter members of the OVFD.

The first accomplishment was the raising of funds to purchase Oakland’s first fire alarm bell in 1917. Cecelia Munn, Nellie Hopper and Cora L. McNomee formed the committee appointed to purchase the bell. During WW II many served as volunteers to directly assist the OVFD to extinguish fires.

Mutual Aid

Oakland has had long history of mutual aid assisting and receiving fire assistance from neighboring communities as early as 1940. This ultimately grew into the North West Bergen Mutual Aid Group.

In 1991 the OVFD was called upon to respond to a very dangerous situation involving a major gasoline spill. Disaster was averted through the efforts of the OVFD and those of surrounding communities via multiple Mutual Aid responders.

Its mutual aid capabilities extended to New York City with the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Tower. The Oakland First Aid Squad and OVFD Rescue Truck assembled at a predetermined location in Haledon along with personnel and equipment from other communities.

Outstanding mutual aid was again illustrated in 1997 with a major fire in a shopping center in Pompton Lakes. Oakland responded instantly with a snorkel engine and a high power pumper to feed it.

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Emergency Aid

In 1953 the men of the OVFD manned the firehouse during an ice storm to receive any calls of a fire while also providing auxiliary lighting. During the floods of 1955 theses men evacuated families along the Ramapo River, housed the homeless in the firehouse and even obtained bedding for these newly displaced families.

In more recent memory the OVFD was called upon to assist following a shooting incident at the FRG Complex to find and assist the wounded. In 1991 it responded to a very dangerous situation involving a major gasoline spill as a result of an accident between tanker truck and an auto.

Tropical Storm Floyd in 1999 again tested the OVFD in the Ramapo River Reserve. A mudslide occurred, proceeded into a private home that inturn ruptured a gas line. The entire complex was safely evacuated and a potential disaster was averted.

Typical Generosity

On September 11, 2001 members of both companies of the Oakland Vol. Fire Dept. left their daytime jobs and met at Station One on Yawpo Avenue waiting and willing to do whatever they could to help the citizens of New York. The OVFD began an initiative to collect food, water, blankets and other useful items to aid the collateral victims. Over 30 tons of goods were shipped from Oakland to NYC.

Into the Second Century of Service

The primary responsibility of the OVFD is centered upon preventing and fighting fires. Over the years its responsibilities expand to encompass virtually all aspects of emergency first response. While no one knows what the future holds, one can nonetheless be assured that the OVFD is preparing constantly for almost any contingency.