Lakeview Fire Department marks 113 years of service

Our island looked a lot different 113 years ago. Coastal areas were filled with summer homes for the rich, whileinland was mostly farms. But a dozen farmers living close to Lakeview banded together in 1909 to create what is today the Lakeview Fire Department.

When Hook, Ladder, and Engine Company Number One was first established over a century ago, it looked quite different from the modern fire department of today. A horse drawn wagon was the department’s first – and for a while only – vehicle. To raise funds, parties, dances, and picnics were held to purchase the state-of-the-art apparatus.

That wagon has survived this last century, can still be drawn, and has been brought out of retirement for events in the past, like during the 2009 celebration of Lakeview’s centennial. The historic wagon is currently on display at the New York Fireman’s Museum on the Hudson River. Now, instead of a horse drawn wagon, the apparatus the Fire Department of Lakeview uses is up to date and highly modern.

The Lakeview Fire Department boasts its Engine 414 and 412, Ladder 411, Squad 413, Ambulances 418 and 4181, Pickup 415, Chief’s Car 4100 and 4101. The Engine 412 serves as a training vehicle for trainees to become chauffeurs. Aside from the seriousness of the department, most of the fire trucks the Lakeview Fire Department owns have some great nicknames, ranging from “Fighting Fred” to “Little Giant.”

The nicknames of the fire trucks not only show off the special connection the firefighters have to the vehicles they use to protect their town, but also the special bonds that form between the men and women at the firehouse.

This same camaraderie was common a little more than a century ago when the department was first established. Over the decades, the firefighters have regularly hosted baseball games, attend parades, held dances, drill competitions, and have played the roles of Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny for the young kids of Lakeview.

In addition to keeping the latest equipment and techniques, the department has catapulted into the 21st century with a strong social media presence. The department’s Facebook page, operated mainly by Chief Michael Joyce, serves as an important link of communication between the department and the people of Lakeview and nearby communities. The page allows people not only stay in the know about local fires and events held by the Lakeview Fire Department, but also to learn how to contact and join the Fire Department.

Times have not always been kind to the fire department. In fact, the modern Lakeview Fire Department was made through the merger of the original later Hook, Ladder, and Engine Company Number One, with Hose, Engine, and Rescue Company Number Two, a company that had formed some time after the first company. Declining numbers of firefighters was cited as the reason for the merger.

The department is lucky not to have that issue now. The evening following the department’s birthday, one of the department’s newer recruits could be seen practicing ladder climbing and other operations outside the firehouse. Probationary Firefighter Jordan Reinstein overcame his own fear of scaling up the 107 feet of the department’s aerial ladder some help and encouragement from his fellow officers.

“Teamwork makes the dream work, and guidance through experience is one of the best ways to learn the job,” wrote Chief Joyce. He further encouraged anyone interested in the work of firefighting to attend the department’s drills every Wednesday night at 7:30.

31 members now serve at the Lakeview Fire Department, not counting the EMS drivers and the new trainees. The Lakeview Fire Department averages over 700 calls a year, ranging between automatic fire alarms and critical calls involving the town’s EMS. After 113 years, the department remains a community fixture.