Station 4 History

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The Franklin Fire Co. was organized December 8, 1903 , as the successors of the Hope Hose Company which had been disbanded by the Borough Council less than two weeks before. The Hope Company was previously known by many as the “rabbit hunters” because of their promptness and speed in which they responded to alarms.

The Hopes had made an illustrious, although a somewhat stormy, name for themselves. No records can be found of them before 1830 because of their house, equipment and minutes being destroyed in the burning of Chambersburg in 1864.

In 1830 the Hopes were situated where the Reeder Hotel stood and in 1840 when the town was divided into two wards it became the Northern Company. In 1856 it was reorganized and again became the Hope Fire Company. During the Civil War, because of so many of its members being in the Service and the destruction of its fire house and apparatus, the company practically passed out of existence. During the reorganization of the Chambersburg Fire Department in 1877 the company was reactivated and became the fire company of the Fourth Ward. New equipment was purchased for it and it became known as the Rabbit Hunters because of its speed. Its new quarters were located on what is now Lincoln Way West . The company occupied this building until 1888 when Council erected a new house on the corner of Franklin Street and Martin Avenue . The company remained here until it was disbanded in 1903. in January of 1903, the Hopes refused to recognize the Chief Engineer appointed by Council and was disbanded by Council for insubordination.

In the law office of Thomas Z. Minehart, without loss of time a small group of men were constructing plans for a new fire company. A petition was presented to Town Council requesting a fire company in the Fourth Ward. The request being granted, an organized meeting was held, and Mr. Minehart was unanimously elected president. Francis Russ was chosen secretary.

Confronting the new organization was the construction and furnishing of a new building. This being complete, Council built the present fire house of the Franklins and the dedication ceremony was February 7, 1905 . Mr. Minehart accepted the keys to the building from the late Alson Stager, Sr., President of Town Council.

In the next few years the Franklins strongly desired to become a motorized company. Town Council then provided the company with a Ford chassis to accommodate the bed of the hose wagon, as a temporary arrangement until a pumper could be secured. This was the first hose wagon to be drawn by a horse. All other apparatus up to 1903 were drawn by hand.

FRANKLIN FIRE COMPANY’S FIRST HOSE WAGON

In 1925 the Franklin Fire Company received its first modern and practical fire engine, a new American LaFrance Pumper.

In 1931 the Franklin Fire company started the ground work for a possible fire truck for the surrounding area of Chambersburg . The feeling and enthusiasm of the company greatly favored such an idea.

The selling of the idea was much harder than anticipated, and many disappointments were encountered in an attempt to raise the monies needed. In raising the money needed Mr. Augustus Dorner put thousands of miles in making contacts for contributions.

Working with Mr. Dorner were: G. Stewart Klenzing, Val Vanderau, Edward Harmony, Bard Miller, Sr., Francis Kuss, Ralph Evans, John K. Berger, Elmer Gabler, Augustus Seelig, and John Suders.

In 1933, after thousands of hours of work, the Rural Service was finally started. In 1933 the first Rural Community Pumper arrived, a new Ward La France . Its first run came July 4, 1933 , a roof fire which was quickly extinguished.

In the early hours of July 22, 1936, while responding to a call near Fayetteville the pumper was involved in an accident which claimed the lives of 19 year old David Gabler and 29 year old Harold Snider.

COMMUNITY PUMPER – 1941

In 1941 a new white Peter Pirsch was purchased. This new pumper carried 300 gallons of water and had a 500 gallon per minute pump.

TANK TRUCK – 1949

The first tanker in Franklin County was purchased by the Franklins in 1949. This was a G.M.C. Tanker carrying 1000 gallons of water.

In 1951 the Franklins again purchased a new pumper, a Peter Pirsch with 750 gallons of water and a 500 gallon per minute pump.

In 1958 a Ford Tanker with 1000 gallons of water was added to the company fleet.

1962 brought the Company another new piece of fire fighting apparatus, a 750 gallon tank capacity and 500 gallon per minute pump Mack was put into service. This piece of equipment would undergo many modifications and improvements for its 16 years of service.

In 1972 a 1800 gallon Diamond Reo Tanker Pumper was added to the company’s line of equipment. This piece was later cut back to 1250 gallons of water.

1968 brought about a time for expansion. The Franklins were growing faster than their house would permit. Two new bays were added and the building was dedicated to David Gabler and Harold Snider, who lost their lives during the line of duty in 1936. Gabler’s mother and Snider’s wife unveiled the dedication plaque.

In 1975 it was time again to expand, this time in the area of a parking lot. Two houses on the corner of Franklin and King were purchased from Robert and William Gonder. The company then started appraising its equipment and found that it was time to purchase a combination rescue and squad type vehicle. A 1976 Dodge power wagon was the unit. This vehicle carried 250 gallons of water, a 250 gpm pump, 11/2” hose and medical supplies. It was named Special Unit 44. The medical supplies include back boards, splints, trauma kits, oxygen, obstetrics kit, along with portable Indian tanks, shovels and brooms, for brush fires. S. U. 44 carried everything that an ambulance does but did not have the space to transport victims.

In 1976 the Borough of Chambersburg took delivery of a new ladder truck and offered the old truck to the Franklins . . . we accepted. The tractor was a 1967 Peter Pirsch and the trailer was made in 1941. This truck responded on all major calls in the rural and was second due in the borough of Chambersburg .

In 1977 it was time to replace the Diamond Reo tanker with another engine. In August of the same year a new Ward La France arrived with much company enthusiasm. This engine carried 1000 gallons of water with a 750 gpm pump and a new color – green.

In February of 1978 the Franklins took delivery of another new Ward La France carrying 1000 gallons of water and a 1000 gpm pump. Both these new trucks were purchased and paid for by a lot of men giving up countless hours of time to raise money through block parties, dinners, drawings, fund drives and other money raising projects. Without the support of every man in the company, and you the public, we could not have succeeded in doing this. Each and every one deserves a pat on the back and extra thank you for a job well done.

It was in 1979 that the Franklin Fire Company purchased the former Franklin Street Elementary School . It was used for storage and for training at first, then it was demolished to make room for more parking for our bingo customers. In 1980 and 1981 Paul E. Lehman Inc. was awarded a contract for the construction of a new two story building at a cost of $500,000. This included a new social hall upstairs and new offices, a new bunk room, game room, lavatory facilities and shower area. It also included a storage facility for housing the 1925 American La France so it would not be in the way.

We then took the old one story social hall and did some modifications to it, such as knocking out some walls to enlarge our apparatus room area. Now we wouldn’t have to move our apparatus outside anymore to set up for bingo. We parked our apparatus back to back and three deep.

We then purchased the old Franklin Street Fire station from the Borough of Chambersburg. We moved everything out of this building to our new addition and then tore down the old building to make more room for parking for our bingo customers.

During this time period we purchased our first Chief’s vehicle which was a Chevrolet four door sedan. This was a used vehicle purchased from auction. Also in this time period we purchased a new Light Rescue Unit which was a Ford utility truck with a walk in back door and a bench seat that could seat up to five personnel. We put our Hurst tool( the “Jaws of Life”) on this vehicle.

It was in 1986 that the company decided it was time for a new fire engine as the Ward La Frances were now ten years old and had been rehabbed twice to get rid of the rust. A committee was appointed and they sat down with various apparatus dealers and specced out what the company would like to have on it. When the bids came back the committee recommended that we take the E-One bid as this bid met our specs the closest. The company agreed and they signed a contract with Federal Signal Inc., the company who builds E-One.

The committee kept a close watch on how the apparatus was being built and made several trips to the E-One plant in Ocala , Florida .

We received the twin E-Ones in early November of 1986. Much to everyone’s surprise, they were just what the company needed.

They had four doors and could seat six in the all enclosed cab compared to the Ward La Frances that only seated four and then two of them would be out in the cold. We also upped the pumping capacity from 1,000 gallons per minute to 1250 gallons per minute.

Throughout the rest of the 1980’s and into the early 1990’s the fire company started purchasing properties to the east of our station on King Street toward Hood Street .

A total of about eight properties were purchased. During this time the fire company became landlords and rented the properties out. As we would see fit we would tear one down to make more parking for our bingo customers. We would then buy another and do the same thing all over again until we owned to the corner of the alley.

During this time the company decided to upgrade their ladder truck, since the old one we got from the borough was constantly giving us trouble. So the company decided to go looking for a better one. The committee came back with its recommendation that we buy a rehabbed New York City piece which was being sold by Northern Fire Equipment in Watertown , NY . We made several trips to Watertown to see how the piece was coming along. On the one trip, after they called and told us they had it painted, we saw it was not the right color green that we ordered but instead it was olive drab and looked like an army vehicle. This was very unacceptable and we got into a slight disagreement over it. The committee then made a decision that we would just take it like it was, bring all the pieces that went with it back to Chambersburg, and take it to Rife Motors where we would rehab it ourselves. The company members got together and sanded down the apparatus and Rife Motors painted it our color of Kelley Green. This unit was a 1984 Seagraves 100 foot rear mounted aerial.

In 1995 while responding to a kitchen fire on the Warm Spring Road and while going back a farm lane to the house, Engine 45 was traveling at a very slow speed because the dirt lane had a lot of ruts and groundhog holes in it. The engine hit a small groundhog hole near the edge of the road and the dirt road caved in under the weight of the fire engine causing it to roll down a small hill and come to rest on its roof. The fire engine had a full crew of six on it. No one was seriously injured, but all were taken to the hospital to be checked out and all were released. Upon the roll over this engine was then sent back to the E-One plant to have the damage repaired. In the mean time we were down to one fire engine. Since we are a two piece engine company, the fire company decided to buy a used engine until we could get ours back. A committee was appointed and they went looking for a good used piece that would fit our needs. An engine was found in Strasburg , PA, for the price of $35,000. We would keep this engine until Engine 45 was repaired and back in service. This engine would be known as Engine 41.

Also in the 1990’s, a committee was set up to buy a medium duty squad. We again looked at E-One as one of the bidders. The new squad was built on a Ford chassis with a walk- in rear box on it. This also had a new extrication tool called the Amkus System on it. It had two pre-connected reels on it- one to go out either side of the box so as to save time while working at an accident scene.

Then in 1994 it was again time to upgrade our ladder truck. Again a committee was formed and they set out to draw up specifications for a new ladder truck. When the specs were approved they were sent out to various apparatus makers and three sent bids back. They were E-One, Pierce and Ladder Tower Inc. The bids were spread on three different tables for the members of the company to look at and compare. The company then chose Ladder Tower Inc. at a bid price of $430,000. The new unit arrived the following year, 1995. It was a steel ladder on an eight person cab. The cab and body was constructed of aluminum. The aerial had a height of 104 ft. reach with a pre-piped, extendable waterway to the tip of the ladder. This unit replaced the 1984 Seagrave aerial truck.

With the new ladder truck coming in, we had to modify the old apparatus bay door so the new ladder truck would fit. We had to cut six inches more off the upper door opening. This was done with a masonry saw. We had bought this truck because we had already started preparations to build a new building with larger door openings.

In 1997 the company gave approval to put out feelers for architects and contractors to build us a new fire station or add on to what we already have. After much discussion it was decided that it was not feasible to keep the old building or to upgrade it. So it was decided to tear the old part down that was built in 1962 and 1968 but keep the part that was built in 1981.

So the process began. First a group of our people, with the help of the Hamilton Township Supervisors, built an open front -end pole building to house one fire engine, a squad and the Borough fire engine. The rest of our apparatus was housed at the township building on Crottlestown Road where we could get to them easily day or night. We would like to acknowledge the Hamilton Township Supervisors for all their cooperation in our time of need. We are fortunate to have such a good relationship.

It was decided to keep the corner stone from the old building and to see if there was any kind of a time capsule in it or not. After the removal, there was nothing found so it was decided to keep it to put in the new museum. Then it was time for the demolition of the old building. The demolition contractor had a buyer for the concrete beams, so he removed them one by one placing them on a tractor trailer rig for transportation to another site.

Ground breaking then took place with the Architect, Contractor, Bank Officials, State Representative, Township Officials, Borough Officials, and fire company representatives present.

The committee members for the new building are as follows:

Charles Goetz, Jr., Richard L. Trace, Richard Landis, Stacy Ingram, Randy Negley, Gary Himes, Marvin Stoner, Joel Preisler, Mike Kessinger and Jeff Clopper.

The building was completed in 1999 as our first piece of apparatus rolled through the bay doors. This building and renovations to the 1981 part cost over three and a quarter million dollars.

After this was completed the fire company then appointed a committee to spec out a new Heavy Duty Rescue Squad. Specs were sent out to various apparatus dealers and we received several back. The dealer who met our specs was a company called KME Inc. They are a Pennsylvania based company about two hours from Chambersburg . This unit cost over $300,000.

At the time this book is being published, a committee has been set up to spec out a new fire engine(s) to replace our 1986 E-Ones.

The Franklin Fire Company has always been a progressive and proud fire department that has been serving this community for the past 100 years. We hope we can keep on serving you for another 100 years.

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