Department History
The Fire Society
Like most communities before apparatus were available to the fire service, firefighting in Brattleboro was on a neighborhood level with bucket brigades. Anyone within the area joined in the community effort to protect lives and property. On December 13, 1831 the Brattleboro Fire Society was formed . A meeting at the Inn owned by Colonel Paul Chase resulted in the beginning of an organized firerfighting effort. Still, there remained some sense of social, rather than technical firefighting obligation. Then numbering some 125 members, firefighters of the society were fined for not attending fires or meetings. At this point there were no single responsible authority. The scene of a fire was, to some extent, controlled by the wordens, carrying the canes of office. Under the Society plan, the first worden was Sam Root, Charles Chapin, Gardner Hall, Ias Minott, and I.D. Bradley.
The first engine company of the town was soon formed with the purchase of a hand crank engine, an improvemanet over the machines with the railroad type hand pump, but still dependent upon firefighters strong of limb to bring the equipment to the fire and stand his turn at the engine. Nearly three years later the second piece of "modern apparatus" was added with the purchase of another hand operated engine and a hook and ladder company was formed. The following year the expanding department added the "Vermont", the third operated, hand pulled engine.
The Mazeppa Engine Company
In 1854, at which time firefighting forces still operated as independent and often competing companies, there was formed the Mazeppa Engine Company #4. Many Prominent citizens were enrolled in the company, which a short time later answered it's first alarm. Records of the day state that upon recieving the alarm on Canal Street, the company arrived on the ground "in good time only to find that some daring scalawag had put the fire out before the arrival of the machine". Members of the company, as were all the town's firefighters were paid one dollar per year, but at the same time were fined one dollar for missing an alarm of fire and the exhorbitant amount of 10 cents for missing a company meeting.
Firefighters of the time for their efforts to save lives and property, and social standings were much revered by the townspeople and the press of the day. As is often the case with dramatic change that was brought about by great suffering and hardship in the "great fire of 1857". Following that great confligation there was a cry from the citizens for greater organization of the fire services. Thus it was in that light there was the first appeal for a town organized fire department with one knowledgable and competent leader. That first spar came from the Mazeppa Engine Company which, in some quarters was the target of criticism for thier actions at the scene of the "great fire". The membership asked for the formation of a chain of command with all town forces organized under the leardership of a competent chief officer. However it would take at least another three years for the plea to be heeded.
Even the mutual aid system as it's known today had it's beginnings in the early days. On March 14, 1860, an alarm of fire was recieved in Brattleboro from Bellows Falls as firefighters of the village faced a great challenge. Recieving a request for assistance, the local heros put a "machine" on a speacially prepared train at the depot and arrived in Bellows Falls at 5:30PM, an hour and a half later, only to be informed they were too late to join the fight. However, though times and methods have changed, the spirit of neighborly cooperation is as strong today and the dedication to their task in a nearby town, to the firefighter, is the same as that at home.