Bellport Fire Department

Each time the men and women of the Bellport Fire Department respond to an alarm they are continuing a 113 year tradition of service to their community. The Bellport Fire Department and the community it serves owes a great debt to Mrs. Jacob Nelson Stout. In the late 1800s a number of suspicious fires destroyed homes, barns and businesses in the area. These losses compelled the residents of the area to work together to form a fire department. Holding ice cream socials, block parties, and carnivals, it took Mrs. Stout and others almost two years to raise the $600 needed to purchase property for a firehouse and $350 for the departments first piece of equipment; a hand drawn hook and ladder wagon manufactured by the Gleason and Bailey Company of Watkins Glen, New York. An additional $750 was raised to construct a truckhouse on the corner of Woodruff Street and South Country Road. Todays firehouse occupies this same site. In September 1893, 32 men met for the first meeting of the newly formed Bellport Hook and Ladder Company. Elections for officers were held with Everett Price being elected the first Foreman or Chief of the Bellport Fire Department. Also at this meeting a constitution and bylaws were drawn up. Rules of the department called for a fifty cent initiation fee, ten cents a month dues, a dollar fine for missing fires or parades without reasonable excuse, and a hefty five dollar fine for using fire department equipment in manner not pertaining to department duties. In 1897 the department added a second weapon to its firefighting arsenal with the purchase of a chemical truck from the Rex Fire Extinguisher Company of New York. A mixture of water and sodium bicarbonate was held in two tanks. The chemical tanks were pressurized by screwing a small container of sulfuric acid onto the tank and striking the container with a hammer. The acid/water/baking soda mixture combined to produce 100 pounds of pressure in the 32 gallon water tanks. Two tanks were used so one could be filled while using the other to fight ...