Fire Department History

Originally, Hollis had a bucket brigade. A bucket brigade consisted of men who would respond to a fire. They would line up and pass buckets of water to each other, hand to hand, down the line towards the fire and continue until the fire was out.

In the early 1800's, Hollis purchased a pump (hand engine). The bucket brigade became the engine men. This pump was a "Fire King". The engine men pulled the "Fire King" with hand ropes to the fire. There they could manually pump a stream of water about 75 feet. However, there was no suction line on this pump, so a bucket brigade had to bring the water to the pump! The hose used was a 2" diameter leather hose. When it was discarded, an amateur cobbler used the hose to make rugged full soles and half-soles.

1858 was the year that the "Always Ready" was purchased. This engine had a suction pump and could be drawn by two horses or hand ropes. It could throw a stream of water about 100 feet. It too, used a leather hose. The leather hose was replaced by cotton jacketed rubber hose in 1871.

1859 a fire engine house was built by the town and furnished by the fire company. It was kept for the exclusive use of the engine men until 1862. They broke down their reserve and allowed the Soldiers Aid Society to meet in it.

In 1860, after purchasing a second engine, the department became "Company 1" to distinguish themselves from the schoolboys who were trained in the use of the hand tub.

The first hose carriage was put in service in 1873. It continued to serve until the late 1920's along with the "Always Ready".

In the early 1900's, a hand drawn soda-acid chemical outfit was used. It was said to be very heavy.

The first motorized apparatus was purchased in 1927. It was a GMC chassis with a 350 g.p.m. pump. It also carried ladders, hose and miscellaneous equipment. This pump continued until 1963. Next came a Model A Ford, which carried the chemical outfit for some time. It was later fitted with a front-end pump and remodeled to carry ladders, hose, etc.

A new fire station was dedicated in 1950. Centrally located, this station had three bays and was connected to the Town Hall by a meeting room. This served the Town of Hollis for many years. The department slowly outgrew it quarters and trucks that didn't fit were housed in the old town shed on Ash St.

In 1965 there were 5 fire fighting vehicles: a '42 Dodge, a '56 Ford, '63 Ford, an Army surplus Dodge, and an International truck.

Communication is very important in fire fighting. In the beginning, there was a fire horn that rang the alarm to alert everyone of a fire. With the telephone there came operator, who could contact just about the whole department in 1 minute. Then calls to a communication center allowed a dispatcher to utilize "quick call". Fire pagers, devices worn on the belt, would beep as an alarm to the fire fighter. A dispatcher would then send a message of location and type of fire and the fire fighter would know to respond.