HANNAWA FALLS VOL. FIRE DEPARTMENT

                              OUR HISTORY, BY DARRELL WILLIAMS

     The Hannawa Falls Volunteer Fire Department actually originated during 1958 with informal discussions between a few local residents. It was at first a small idea, however, it "caught on" and continued to grow. During early 1959, discussions became more serious with ideas put forth as to how it might work, where it would be located, and what was necessary to form a department here. Through the winter of 1959-1960, the group of interested people grew and many items and problems were identified, addressed, and one by one were resolved.

     Records show that the first official meeting of our department occurred on 4-25-1960 as recorded by Wallace Collins as acting secretary. Several committees were also named at that time and reported their results at the second monthly meeting held 5-16-60. After committees reports it was decided to purchase land and erect our fire station where it still stands today. 1960 saw land purchased, cleared, graded, and then our "original" fire station built. The department is justly proud of the fact that this was all done by members and other volunteers, with no paid contractors involved. This became a tradition of the department which still exists today.

     A very important step in forming, was to become incorporated. Our corp. papers were filed with New York state on July 20, 1960. We subsequently use this date as our birthday. Also notable in the first year, was the purchase of a dodge tank truck that we made into a fire truck, using a portable pump, mounted at the rear of the truck, along with other alterations. Shortly after this, we were able to purchase an older Chevy truck with a front mount pump from a department in Jefferson County, which served us for several years. Being ever on the search for equipment to improve our trucks, we located a war surplus fire pump (500 GPM) still in it's crate, bought a used Chevy truck chassis, and had this fabricated at Kendall-Lamar Corp., Potsdam, N.Y. into a much improved fire truck in the mid 1960's.

     Finally, in 1971, we had accumulated sufficient funds so that we were able to purchase our first new custom manufactured class A fire apparatus. The cost then was $32,328 for what today costs $200,000. This was manufactured by the John Bean Corp., a division of FMC. Corp. of Tipton, IN. and was received here on 10-28-71 after being driven home by our members. This "first out" engine served us for 30 years until it was replaced by our present "first out" engine on 9-11-01. We have had numerous other support vehicles over the years, including a heavy duty Ford pick-up, purchased new in 1979 and is still in service today. It is used mainly for off road fires. Today when we respond, we have 2600 gallons of water along with a full range of support equipment.

     Other department highlights include the purchase of 33 acres of land in our community to be used for fund raising functions. This was done in 1966, and land clearing and planning done in 1967 along with a 50' x 60' concrete slab that is the floor of the building erected in 1968. A kitchen area was added a few years later so that the building is now 50 x 80. Our building is called "The Doghouse", the field is "Hounds Haven" and we are "The Hannawa Hounds".