The Hotchkiss Hose Co. firehouse on David Humphreys Road in Derby is packed with artifacts from throughout the company’s 175-year history.
Old badges crowd a display case in the fire house meeting room.
Yellowing photos of members from the late 1800s are posted in a massive frame, hanging behind stacked chairs and tables.
One wall is lined with photos of notable fires in Derby’s history — such as the Hull Dye Factory fire, or the fatal house fire on Caroline Street.
“There’s a lot of history in this building,” said Michael Gloade, a captain for the company.
But some of the best history — the best detail — comes from the minds of the company’s 56 members.
As the Hotchkiss Hose Co. celebrates its 175th year, the volunteers are remembering their proud past while trying to get the word out about their current community service and training standards.
A group of volunteer firefighters gathered at the firehouse recently to share their stories of bravery, community service and tradition.
Stories
“We pulled up and we thought we were being shot,” Kurt Kemmesies said, recalling a 1995 house fire on Laurel Avenue in Derby.
The owner, according to firefighters, was a hoarder. Among the items packed into the house: Fireworks.
When the flames hit the fireworks, they started shooting off at approaching firefighters, Kemmesies recalled, laughing.
It was one of several fires remembered by the volunteers who gathered at the fire house recently. The group included Fire Marshal Phil Hawks, First Lt. Sean Fitch, company historian Ray Allen, Second Lt. Ed Stanis, Fire Commissioner Kelly Curtis, Gloade and Kemmesies.
Like many firefighters in the Valley, the group started their discussion of the most memorable fires with the 1975 Sponge Rubber arson fire at the former B.F. Goodrich factory in Shelton.
The fire was intentionally set in an attempt to cash in on an insurance policy valued at more than $60 million. Click here for background.
“When the thing blew, we didn’t wait for the tone. We just took off,” Hawks said.
Derby firefighters were eating at the Derby Howard Johnson’s across the Housatonic River on Route 34 when the factory exploded.
“We got there so early, we were so close to the building, the heat was going to affect the truck,” Hawks said.
They had to move the truck away from the building, stretching the fire hose to its max length, he said.
Then there’s the unforgettable River Restaurant explosion in 1985.
Six people were killed. People within a 10-block area were evacuated. The force of the explosion blew the front of the building across Main Street. The structure collapsed onto itself, fire raging.
It took four hours to dig a survivor from the rubble.
Click here to read recollection from that day.
Other memorable events range from fighting three fires at the same house on Seymour Avenue, to fighting fires on major holidays like Thanksgiving and New Years Eve.
Excitement. Camaraderie. Tradition
It’s the life of a volunteer.
Scanner sits next to your bed. Fire calls get toned out during at all the hours you might otherwise be sleeping or spending time with family.
“You hear that (tone), your adrenaline goes off,” said Gloade.
Volunteering requires extra support from family members, Gloade said.
In between calls, there are training drills and firehouse events. The crew meets every Thursday night to discuss important issues and updates about the city’s fire department, and firefighting in general.
While the firefighters are volunteers, they’re still putting in the same type of work — and sometimes similar hours — as paid firefighters. That’s on top of their own jobs.
And yet, the volunteers said they wouldn’t give it up.
“It gets into your blood,” Hawks said.
“It’s excitement. It’s camaraderie. It’s tradition,” Curtis said.
Generations of Volunteers
Several of the members at Hotchkiss Hose Co. are second or third generation firefighters with the company. They grew up at the fire house, tagging along to calls, learning the ropes.
“When I started as a kid on the fire truck, all we had was rain coats (for gear),” Kemmesies recalled.
The gear, the training and the rules have advanced since then.
Hawks said his first time fighting a fire for the Derby Hotchkiss Hose Co. was when he was 16 — something that wouldn’t be allowed under state laws today. Firefighters must be 18, and must have completed a training course, before they can enter a burning building.
Fitch recalled driving to fires on the back of a truck — another safety no-no today — on a winter day.
“You were trying to hold on, getting dressed and freezing,” Fitch said, laughing.
The rules were different in the 1960s and 1970s — but so were the fires, Hawks said.
Homes today are filled with different synthetic materials — and sealed tight to the outside.
“(It creates) a black acrid smoke, unlike years ago,” Hawks said.
Fighting the fires requires more advanced gear, and different training.
“The old cliche was that you just put the white stuff on the red stuff,” Kemmesies said about firefighting. “Now it’s a science.”
New Blood
Despite the longevity of some of the members, the firehouse is not an insider’s club, volunteers said.
The company is always looking for new volunteers — and trying to interact with the community.
Ed Stanis got involved about five or six years ago, after his personal catering company did work at a firehouse party.
The other guys pegged him immediately as someone who would fit in.
“It was his personality,” said Gloade. “He was very kind. Very good.”
Stanis, for his part, was thinking about joining when he showed up at the party, after his 2‑year-old daughter suffered a seizure.
“Having the fire department, EMS, show up that quick, it really opened my eyes to volunteering,” Stanis said.
The efforts to reach out to the community include hosting a yearly Easter egg hunt, riding around Derby neighborhoods throwing popcorn balls to children during the Christmas season, and raising tens of thousands of dollars for special causes.
“You join the firehouse, you have to live up to a strict code of conduct,” Fitch said. “You have to walk the straight and narrow.”
History
Hotchkiss Hose Co. No 1 officially formed on June 7, 1837, after 100 residents of what was then called Birmingham signed a petition requesting state permission to form a fire company.
The fire company was started by Edward Shelton, Julius Hotchkiss, Ephraim Curiss and Edward Lewis, and was headquartered in a bar on Third and Minerva streets, according to a history of the fire house.
The fire company later moved to Caroline Street, where it was housed in different buildings, before finally moving to its present location on David Humphreys Road in 176.
The former firehouse on Caroline Street is now home to the Valley Arts Council.
