The Somerville, NJ Fire Department originated in 1835. The Washington Fire Company was organized that year and housed its engine in a frame building that stood on the southeast corner of what is presently the Somerset County Courthouse yard. The machine consisted of a tub apparatus, in which water had to be carried to it in buckets while men on both sides pumped long handles to force the water through the hose line. Period records indicate that a "Captain Tunison" was the foreman of the company.
In 1852, the engine was sold and two smaller ones were purchased. At the same time, two new companies were formed. Union Fire Company No. 1 and Jersey Blue Fire Co. No. 2. The Former company stored it's apparatus in a small, one-story frame building on Doughty Avenue, while the latter housed it's equipment in a brick building on a back lot at Warren and Main Streets. Mr. Jesse Lindsley was foreman of the Union Fire Company No. 1 for several years through this period. Mr. P.W. Tunison, Sr. was foreman of the Jersey Blue Fire Co. No. 2. These two early engine companies were active until 1878, when Engine Company No. 1 was Organized. This unit, located on Maple Street, is the oldest in Somerville, Engine Company No.1 was formed after the Board of Commissioners purchased the first steam fire engine (steamer). The steamer, Manufactured by Amoskeag, was purchased at the cost of $5000. The unit was the brilliant red color of the prototypical fire engine and was transported by a team of horses. The building that encompassed the Union Fire Company No. 1 was demolished before the turn of the century. In 1888, The West End Hose Company acquired the property and erected a new firehouse in its place.
In June 1888, the one-story wooden building that had housed the Union Fire Company No. 1 was replaced with a two-story brick building on Doughty Street that housed the West End Hose Company No. 3. The structure would house the new four-wheeled hose carriage and that was hauled by hand. In October 1899,the Company obtained a rubber-tired hose wagon with a drop harness pulled by Mackey, the first horse in the Somerville Fire Department. Notably, the first motor apparatus in the Somerville Fire Department was purchased by the West End Hose Company 1916, when it was replace by an American LaFrance pumper. The Mack Chemical and Hose Truck remained in service until 1930. In 1969, the Company acquired the first diesel-powered engine, a 1250 gallon per minute Hahn pumper. A the same time, the West End Hose Company moved from their Doughty Avenue headquarters to High Street. Unique modern features of the West End Hose Company No. 3 also included an emergency generator system in case of power failure, doors at the front and rear of the four bay building, and the ability to convert the upstairs into temporary sleeping rooms during emergencies as needed. While continually modernizing its equipment to best serve the Boro of Somerville, by 1989, the West End Hose Company took delivery of a 1989 Pierce 1250 GPM Pumper.
By October 1868, Somerville Engine Company No. 1 boasted a membership of 65. The building On Maple Street served as the Engine House from 1873 until 1961, when the firehouse that would take its place was built on East Main Street. The Ahrens-Fox engine, a mainstay of Somerville Engine Company No. 1, served as the backbone of the Somerville Fire Department during the 1920's and 1930's. It incorporated the use of pneumatics, contained a four-cylinder piston pump rated at 1000 gallons per minute and by all accounts, was extremely reliable. The accompanying cooling system was attached to the pump, providing a steady flow of coolant at all times during its operation. When this engine was retired in 1942, it was sold to the Johns Manville Corporation. With advances in technology, fire engines subsequently grew larger as each unit improved in capacity and efficiency. By 1960, fire engines at the Somerville Engine Company were purchased by Mack, which produced the most effective equipment at the time.
It was in 1873 that the Somerville Board of Commissioners purchased a steam fire engine and thus, the Somerville Steam Fire Engine Company No. 1 was organized. At the same time, a unit called the Steamer Hose Company No. 1 was established for the express purpose of housing and maintaining the hose carriage. Personnel at the Somerville Steam Fire Engine Company No. 1 included the following: Dr. S. H. Craig, Foreman; John Barkalow, Assistant Foreman; William S. Potter; Harry P. Craig; Jacques Vanderbeek; and Dr. W. W. Dorland. The units were disbanded after five (5) years and the present Engine Company No. 1was organized on October 8, 1878.In June 1880, having decided there was a need for a hook and ladder truck to best serve the purpose of the Department, several men from Engine Company No. 1 formed the Central Hook and Ladder Company. These men resigned from the Somerville Engine Company No. 1 and together, with other volunteers, established with the company with 18 charter members. The unit's first truck, a hand-drawn ladder truck, was purchased with money raised by the sale of $5.00 bonds in Somerville and Raritan and paid off with interest. The truck was housed in a small frame building on Union Street, opposite what at the time was the C.P. Hoagland Company plant. The following year Mr. George Abbott was elected the first Fire Chief of the Somerville Fire Department, and served in that capacity for four (4) years. Local activities employed at the time to raise the required funds included minstrel shows, card parties, and public billiards rooms.
The year 1893 was significant in the history of the Somerville Fire Department. By that year, there were Fire Boxes in a total of eight (8) locations, including one in Raritan, New Jersey. The Lincoln Hose Company became part of the Fire Company in Somerville in 1891. The group was unique in that it began as a group of exclusively young men, known at the time as the Engine Company Cadets. After attaining prominence at helping protect the town against fires, the organization erected a three story headquarters building on Warren Street of what is now known as the Lincoln Hose Firehouse. A new building was subsequently erected in 1974 at a cost of $100,000 with funds from the company's treasury, notably with no cost to local taxpayers. The Central Hook and Ladder Company No. 1 continued to update it's equipment as technology progressed. In 1909, a horse-drawn Seagrave hook and ladder truck was purchased. Horses were stalled in the rear of the truck room and their harness hung from the ceiling with ropes and pulleys in front of the truck. When an alarm sounded, horses were brought to the front of the truck and the harnesses dropped and buckled in a matter of seconds. In 1924, the company received from the Boro a motorized Seagrave truck with a booster tank and complete set of wooden ladders, the largest of which extended to 50 feet. A custom was started by the Boro at that time to replace each truck every 20 years. In 1945, the Seagrave was replaced with a Peter-Pirsch 65-foot aerial truck. In 1965, this was sold to the Boro of Raritan, and the Company took delivery of a 100 foot Seagrave aerial. In 1985, the Central Hook and Ladder Company took delivery of a new tractor drawn aerial ladder.
As the Somerville Fire Department entered into the 1990's and beyond, numerous changes took place in training and operations to provide the best possible services to the residents of the Boro. The Department was thus in the best possible position to meet the challenges of a number of serious fires that occurred throughout the Boro of Somerville. As the 1990's came to a close , the new millennium brought more rigorous requirements for all firefighters, largely due to the homeland attacks of September 1 1, 2001. Notable members of the Somerville Fire Department participated in the rescue and recovery effort in New York in the weeks following the attack.
Today, the Somerville Fire Department consists of:
Engine Company No. I on East Main Street;
West End Hose Company on West High Street @ Fire Headquarters;
Lincoln Hose Company No. 4 on Warren Street;
Central Hook and Ladder Company on West High Street @ Fire Headquarters;
Engine Company No., East Main Street
West End Hose Company No. 3,
West High Street Lincoln Hose Company No. 4, Warren Street
