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In the first days of
the formation of the Simsbury Volunteer Fire Company, training
the members in the skills that they would need was identified as
a priority, as it is safe to assume that the overwhelming
majority of new recruits had no previous training or experience
in fighting fires. It is recorded in the minutes of one of the
first business meetings of the Fire Company that twelve of the
original seventeen founding members were selected to
attend a class in "Firefighting Techniques" sponsored by the
Connecticut State Board of Education.
The photographs in
this gallery capture what is believed to be one of the first officially
organized drills of the Fire Company being led by State
Instructor Chief John Pachl on July 13, 1944.
Unfortunately there was no official Company photographer or
historian back then and not much is known about the photographs
in this gallery including what the sequence
of events was. Even though twelve members were selected for
training, seventeen persons appear to have participated in this
drill leading one to conclude that the all current members
attended. However, one of the original seventeen members
Frank Bradley, had died
in the Hartford Circus
Fire exactly one week earlier. It is likely that the
identity of the gentlemen in these photographs will for the most
part, forever
remain a mystery.
State Instructor Chief John Packel talks with members at the old town garage. To his left stands Lea Hutchinson, first Chief of the Department. Before the construction of the Main Station in 1949, Engine 1 was stored at the old town garage which sat near where the One-Way Fare currently is. It would appear that members are unloading hose, possibly supply line, as the ladder has yet to be broken. Members practice their hose-handling and nozzle skills on the front lawn of the old Simsbury High School. The old high school before it became the Town Hall and offices. Note the two members flowing water from the roof. The first of many drill casualties to come. A group photograph of the participants taken on the lawn of the high school.
State Instructor Chief John Packel talks with members at the old town garage. To his left stands Lea Hutchinson, first Chief of the Department.
Photographs by
Horace B. Clark
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