SHREWSBURY- Hose CompanyNo. 1 will celebrate its 100-year anniversary with a parade onMay 17, where it will culminate with a celebration at themunicipal building.
The parade will begin around noon and last about 90 minutes, according to Fire Chief Robert Wentway, and will proceed from Patterson Avenue to the municipal building on Route 35 by way of Birch Drive, Samara Drive and Obre Place. He added that there would be refreshments, food and rides for kids during the celebration to follow.
Wentway also shared what has been a long and colorful history of the company, which has seen three different firehouses and over 400 members during its 100 years of service to the community.
“We currently have about 30 activemembers and answer an average of 250 calls per year,” Wentway said. “We have recently started a cadet programfor kids 14 to 17 and have about five cadets as of date.”
The company primarily responds to motor vehicle accidents and alarm calls, according toWentway.
Hose CompanyNo. 1was started in 1908 when a group of youngmen interested in the preservation of life and property gathered at what was once called LibraryHall, adjacent to the present-day Marx property on Broad Street.
The company’s first vehicle was a hose cart,whichwas pulled by hand. It could hold 75 feet of hose and was purchased for $75.
The following year, the company erected its first firehouse, where their first meeting took place on Nov. 4, 1909. The cost of constructing the building was $650.
Shrewsbury, alongwithWestsideHose of Red Bank and Little Silver Fire Company, joined the N.J. State Firemen’s Association on April 4, 1912, as Shrewsbury Township. Later on, Westside pulled out of the township association and joined theRedBankAssociation. Shrewsbury and Little Silver continued on together until September 1957, when they both formed their own associations.
Today the local association is known as the Shrewsbury Borough Firemen’s Relief Association.
In the years that followed, Hose Company No. 1 expanded further, gaining a bell tower, fire trucks and a siren before relocating to a new firehouse in June 1961, built on the property where the current firehouse is located, for $58,410.
The company continued to grow, celebrating 75 years of service in 1983.
In 2004 a building committeewas formed to replace the firehouse built in 1961. In 2005 the old firehouse and executive building were demolished, and construction started on the new building.
The new firehouse has four engine bays, two ofwhich are double-deep to house all the equipment with a little room to grow. There is also a state-of-the-art kitchen, meeting room, executive offices and amembers room. This building was completed in late 2006.
Memorable fires that have been extinguished by the company in recent years include the Blair Hall and Treasure Island Plaza fires, along with a few big house fires, according toWentway.
“In 2006 we were called to a motor vehicle accident onHighway 35 in front of the library, and we needed to use the jaws of life to extricate a woman from the car,” Wentway said. “We were later told by the medics that if we had not performed so efficiently, she probably would have died.”
Wentway added that the woman had survived the accident and that all of themembers on the call had received both unit and lifesaving citations.
During the company’s century of operation, a deeply rooted tradition and heritage has been established, according to a press release from the fire company.
This can be seen in the number of fatherand son combinations participating in the fighting of fires aswell as fundraising, bingo, outdoor picnics and other community events.
Some of the father-and-son family teams of the past and present include the Marx, Reynolds,Yorg, Sagurton, Lane, Bly, Forrar, Dancey, Clark, Borden, Lang, Parker, Scott, O’Brien,Wentway, LathamandGibson families.
“The anniversary marks the close of 100 years of faithful service and the beginning of a new era in which the membership continues to pledge serving the residents of Shrewsbury in a professional manner and instituting the most up-to-date methods required in the fire protectionwhile protecting the lives and property of every resident,” according to the press release.