The youngest of the City of Long Branch’s nine fire companies has joined the “Century Club” as the Independent Fire Engine & Truck Co. No. 2 celebrates the centennial anniversary of their March 10, 1910 incorporation.
The Long Branch Volunteer Fire Department traces its roots back to the 1866 and the organization of the first fire company in Monmouth County—twelve years prior to the formation of the fire department itself. As the nineteenth century closed, the technology of firefighting began to enter the Modern Era and by 1909 a total of eight fire companies had been created to serve the city and to make the most of the cutting edge technology that came with the dawning years of the twentieth century.
Among the most radical changes to the fire service was the invention of the “horseless carriage”—the automobile. Following the introduction of a Pope-Toledo Hose Wagon (the shore’s first motorized apparatus) in Red Bank on Oct. 12, 1908, Long Branch’s third oldest fire company, the Atlantic Engine and Truck Co. No. 2 then-located at 19 Third Ave, decided they too would like to replace their horse-drawn hose reel with a motorized fire apparatus. With that simple decision, the Independents’ find their founding roots.
According to the traditions and legends passed down through generations of Long Branch firefighters, the desire to deploy a motorized apparatus from the city’s Third Avenue firehouse met with vehement (although predictable) opposition from the city’s governing body. The city had thousands of dollars invested in horse-drawn fire equipment that was working well; the "auto craze” was still dismissed as a novelty--too new to be recognized as inevitable; and, in a now-all-too-familiar refrain, the city determined that the new trucks were just “too expensive”. Those rifts were small compared to that brewing within the fire service itself. As with the earlier transition from hand-drawn to horse-drawn apparatus power, the movement to replace the horses with motorized conveyances was initially an unwelcome harbinger of the inescapable in those heady days when horses were both more reliable than motorized apparatus and also widely regarded as members of the fire company.
Emotions ran very high while lines were drawn and sides taken and the problem escalated out of control as the Atlantics split into two camps. Shortly thereafter the City removed the city-owned fire apparatus from the Atlantics and closed the Third Avenue fire station. One group took the Atlantic Engine & Truck Co. No. 2 charter and left with the company-owned hose reel. The other group persevered and temporarily operated the small two-wheeled hand drawn hose reel called The Teddy Leddy which had originally seen service with the West End Engine Co. No. 3 and later with the Oliver Byron Engine Co. No. 5 when they were still a hose company. It was a far cry from the rolling stock they previously had, but it was better than nothing at all. They reorganized as a new, ninth fire company and chose for their name the Independent Fire Engine and Truck Co. No. 2—retaining the designations of Engine 2 and Truck 2 they believed they were entitled to as the company that stood their post rather than running out on the Department and the City. To this day, the City has two companies with the identical designations.
The new Independent fire company offered membership to the displeased Atlantic members and a number of members (including at least one Ex-Chief) left the Atlantics to accept the offer.
On March 10, 1910 the city formally accepted the Independent Engine & Truck Co. No. 2 into the Long Branch Fire Department and simultaneously gave the Independents charge of the Third Avenue fire station and all of the city-owned equipment and apparatus housed there. Shortly thereafter, the city placed the first motorized fire apparatus into service in the city with the Independents when, in 1911, a Seagrave “Buck Board” (a combination chemical & hose wagon) was purchased. The Independents took delivery of the wagon and affectionately named it Old Gabriel. It is noteworthy to add that Old Gabriel was equipped with an early resuscitating device known as a “pulmotor” a respiratory device for pumping oxygen or air into and out of the lungs. This was used on many occasions to revive people from drowning and accidents resulting in loss of breath including smoke inhalation. Old Gabriel served the city and the Independents for more than a decade before being retired.
At this time the Independents comprised the largest combination of rolling stock in the city. Along with Old Gabriel the company operated an American LaFrance Metropolitan Steamer and a Hook and Ladder Truck as well as a sleigh to carry hose if needed in winter months. The company organized itself into two divisions—with firefighters assigned to either the engine company or truck company but working as unified team. For the first fifteen years of the company’s existence, the company had two Captains and two Lieutenants, equally divided and assigned to each division, with the chemical wagon to fall under the command of the Captain of the Engine and the hook and ladder under the Captain of the Truck. In 1925 the by-laws were amended to have a Captain, a Junior Captain and First and Second Lieutenants. The Junior Captain was later redesignated as “Assistant Captain”. To this day, the Captain wears two upright horns (the rank insignia of an engine company captain) and the Assistant Captain wears two upright axes (the insignia of a truck company captain).
The death toll of the horse drawn era had been struck, and slowly but surely and one by one the old reliable “true” horse power of the department was replaced throughout the city. By 1918 the original horse drawn Ladder truck was replaced by an AC Mack ladder truck. It would later be upgraded with the latest in motoring technology—pneumatic tires and later still with a wind shield. It served the Company for thirty nine years and still exists today in the private collection of the Irving Jensen family of Sioux City, Iowa who lovingly restored the truck to factory-delivery condition just in time for our 100th Anniversary. The AC Mack has been pledged by the Jensen’s to become the centerpiece of the Sioux City Public Museum façade as it goes on permanent loan to this new facility in mid-2010.
In 1920 the old Gamewell alarm bell tower located behind the Third Avenue station was demolished due to its deteriorating condition. A new air-operated alarm horn was installed which served the city without fail until the Gamewell box system was decommissioned in 1985.. The bell was given to West Long Branch to use as their alarm bell and in 1952 it tapped out its last box before standing as a silent memorial sentinel in front of the West Long Branch Fire Co. No. 2 station on Oceanport Ave.
In 1922 the old steamer blasted its last call for coal on the whistle and was replaced with an Ahrens-Fox 800-gpm piston pumper. It served until 1947 when it was taken out of service to be temporarily replaced by a reconditioned Army fire truck until a suitable replacement could be found. In 1949 a new Mack 750-gpm pumper was purchased and in 1957 the old chain-drive AC Mack Ladder truck was replaced with a new Mack 75-foot aerial ladder.
In 1966 the Third Avenue fire station was condemned and torn down. On June 29, 1966 some of the faithful gathered to witness its demolition. When the old house was pushed over by bulldozers, the first floor collapsed but the second floor stubbornly stood tall for several minutes, seemingly personifying the company that saved her from extinction in their founding days, before capitulating to the will of the demolition crews—a fine, fitting and fully appropriate farewell from a station that had served as home away from home for the Independents for 56 years.
Ground was immediately broken for a new station two blocks north on Union Avenue which would not only serve as our station but would also carry the new designation of Fire Headquarters. During construction, the company continued meetings and conducted business at the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks club on Garfield Ave. The engine was relocated to the quarters of the West End Engine Co. while the ladder was ironically housed in the rear bay of the Atlantics “new” fire house on Broadway.
After some initial “problems” with the city and following an open house on January 7, 1968, Fire Headquarters was placed into active service and assigned to the Independents. Shortly after occupying the station, the company was approached by the Phil Daly Hose Co. No. 2 who wanted to share the new three-bay fire house with the Independents and decommission their old quarters on Second Avenue. An agreement was reached following formal negotiations.
On May 19, 1968 a combined dedication of the fire station was held at a public ceremony. It was recorded at the time that members of both companies agreed that such a merger probably would not have happened in the “old days” but times had changed and the fire service was moving forward into modern times. To this day, the Independents and the Dalys enjoy an outstanding joint-stewardship of Fire Headquarters with the Independents playfully acknowledging that the Daly’s have always been outstanding “tenants” who never failed to pay their “rent”—their half of any expenses incurred jointly for the previous year and traditionally paid back to the Independents in January.
In 1970 another new piece of apparatus was purchased and a CF Mack 1000-gpm pump was placed into service replacing the 1949 Mack engine. In 1978 a CF Mack Aerialscope 75-foot truck replaced the 1957 Mack aerial, becoming the first “tower ladder” to see city service. Since then these trucks have been replaced, the ladder truck twice, first with a 95-foot 1993 Smeal tower ladder that boasted an integrated 1500-gpm pump and again in 2004 with a 95-foot E-One tower ladder in 2004. In 1996 the 1970 CF Mack was replaced with a Smeal 1250-gpm pump which, along with the E-One Tower Ladder, is currently in service with the radio designations of 25-4-75 and 25-4-90, respectively.
In the mid-1990s the Independents regained ownership of its beloved 1957 Mack aerial with plans to restore the truck to its city service appearance for use as a recruiting, educational and public relations tool.
In closing, we fondly recall the words of the late Alfred C. Clark, member and past president of the company who wrote for many anniversaries of this company: The Independent's are proud of their heritage, and when the unexpected alarm sounds, we shall respond to lay the hose, raise the ladders, smell the smoke and hear the crackling of the flames. Ours is to continue to strive to maintain the high elevation of firemanship which has been handed down to us through the generations.
Research by Arthur T. Green II Written in partnership with Brian J. Valentino and the late Alfred C. Clark.
