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Additional Info |
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| Station 302 - Beverly Road Fire Company #2 |
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Welcome to the Beverly Road Fire Company, No. 2
"Home of the Blue Goose"
History of the Company
By: Richard B. Craft, Past Chief, and Life Member
The date was April 17, 1925 when a group of Orchard View and Plaza Park men got together to - and here I quote from an old and yellowed note paper found in a minute book of yesteryear. "On Friday evening, April 17th, 1925, a meeting was called at Mr. Ridgeway Marter's home to try and form a fire organization in this locality of Burlington Township." Mr. Wm. Slack was appointed temporary chairman. Others present were John Herrin, H.E. Keifer, Thos. Palmer, Carl Carter, DeForest Marter, Carlson Major, and Joseph Adams.
Then the work began. Land was acquired on Beverly Road right next to Marter's Ditch. (Stan Bogdovich was later to purchase that lot when the firehouse was moved. He still lives there.) Much backbreaking labor went into building a hall and house with no apparatus in sight. It was three levels with a sometimes muddy cellar and a monstrous coal, wood and anything that would burn furnace to keep the place warm. The ground floor had an apparatus room facing Beverly Road with a man door alongside the apparatus doors, which opened horizontally on hinges (unlike the overhead doors of today).
The first apparatus was ordered from the American LaFrance Fire Engine Company on December 9, 1927. This was a "chemical truck" that had a large tank of acid and a larger tank of water. Through the mixing/pump system, these combined to build up pressure and force a foamy water solution over the fire.
Behind the apparatus room was a small social hall and a very small kitchen. A toilet room was tucked under the stairs to the second floor.
On the second floor, there was a pool table around which was a raised platform, about 10 or 12 inches high, that accommodated captains chairs for the audience and hecklers. Under some of the platform was access for all sorts of things.
A cupola with a siren inside it, was on the peak at the front of the roof. The siren was acquired from the Franklin Fire Company in Columbus. This siren was sounded from the Scully and Slack homes on Central Avenue. At Harry Adams' store, a big bell rang a series of single dongs if the fire was toward Burlington. Double dongs meant it was in the other direction.
In 1937, the firehouse was moved to a more central location at States Avenue and renovations added a larger social hall and room for additional fire trucks. The basement under the social hall was the center of many hours of quoit pitching. Quoit pitching leagues in the area continued until the beginning of World War II. Carnivals, dances and dinners were held to make money. The October 1939 Carnival made a net profit of $149.72.
Meanwhile, fire fighting went on. About one barn a year seems an average. In 1941, a drill on Shedaker School called for pumping water from Tanner's run, almost a mile away. (No hydrants in those days)
World War II saw no let up in activities, even with the younger men off to fight. In January 1943, a mortgage burning was accomplished. A rifle range was installed in the quoit pitching basement, as part of Civilian Defense training. This was removed in 1946, the same year a party was held for returning servicemen.
Finally, a new truck ------a 1948 Peter Pirsch with a 500 gpm pump for $8235, one of the first postwar trucks made. (Flood lights from the Pirsch are still in service at the Beverly United Methodist Church for stage lighting) That was it until the need for an additional truck called for a 1951 built up Ford with a 1000 gallon tank, cost $11,500. This was also the first radio equipped truck at Beverly Road.
Then came the 1958 Dodge utility truck used extensively for a 4WD field truck. This truck did a fantastic job of saving "Indian Tank Backaches". It was especially noted for the April 1963 service in a 200 acre fire in Cinnaminson and then directly to a two day stay in the Medford area for a wildfire. Who can forget bailing water by the bucketful to fill the 200 gallon tank from bogs and lakes? That was the weekend that fires raged from Ocean County to Cape May and Chief Carmen Calaverro of Burlington City was killed in a fire related accident near Four Mile.
The old 1925 building, having been moved to its location at States Avenue and Beverly Road was demolished in 1962 for a new building. The new Hahn pumper was parked in the rear lot for several months of building and bingo continued at Beverly Road School with weekly setups and knock downs. Cooperation from the members was terrific.
The new building brought teen dances, when approximately 300 kids danced their hearts out every week. Between dances and bingo, the building was soon paid for, even though the dances called for reinforcing the second floor by placing columns on the engine room floor. Even a new building couldn't take the "Bristol Stomp"
Super pumpers with super prices really hurt during the '80's and early '90's and led to the development of a Fire District covering the entire township. Now having the whole population supporting the budget,instead of the struggle of a faithful few to carry on, the load was lightened and full effort could go into training and increased professionalism. Those who have answered their "last call" would certainly be surprised and proud to see what they started 80 years ago. Formed to assist the earlier Independent Company in the Springside area and a leader in the forming of the Relief Company in Stevens Station, Beverly Road stands today as a part of the very solid Burlington Township Fire Department.
This is far from a complete history. Very few of the hundreds of men and women have been named herein. Rather, a generalized summary in which it is more important to be, or to have been, a member, than any one person, really no more important that a single rung in a ladder or a length of hose in a relay.
The old firehouse, with its additions and its myriad maintenance problems is gone. A new edifice, opened in 2004 has risen in its place. Truck bays large enough to hold today's vehicles have been provided, along with office, storage and training space. The building belongs to the Burlington Township Fire Commissioners and the township it represents. The backbone is still the men and women volunteers who staff the Beverly Road Fire Company of the Burlington Township Fire Department .
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BEVERLY ROAD FIRE CO. 302
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1001 Beverly Road
Burlington Twp., NJ 08016
609-386-0595
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RELIEF FIRE CO. 303
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1020 Neck Road
Burlington Twp., NJ 08016
609-386-2880
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