BRIDGEHAMPTON VOLUNTEER FIRE DEPARTMENT

The first volunteer fire fighting service in the Bridgehampton community was organized in 1895 and was named the Bridgehampton Hook and Ladder Company.  Its first meeting ws held on May 15, 1895 with 15 members attending, E. A. Hildreth, L. R. Aldrich, and J. A. Sandford were trustees. The first officers of the Company were E. P. Rogers (foreman) and Charles Humblet (assistant foreman); later (in 1903) Harry Hildreth was added as a second assistant foreman. Meetings were originally held in Atlantic Hall on Ocean Road.  In the following year, 1896, the Company joined the Suffolk County Fireman’s Association. In 1899, the Company purchased a Holloway Chemical Engine for $525.00). At first, the truck and engine were kept in Ed Rogers’ barn, then at the Academy on Ocean Road, but in 1900, they were moved to a building in J.A. Sanford property west of the Presbyterian Church. The first alarm was a gong in the Sandford building. By 1902, there was enough money in site to buy uniforms and the following year “three silver trumpets for parade use.”

Realizing the need for more room for equipment and meeting space, the firemen sought to build their own headquarters. In 1905, a building lot on Corwith Avenue (then Kansas Ave.) was purchased for $270.00. On this site a building was constructed at a total cost of $1593.00and was dedicated in 1909.  It was a two-story building; the first floor for housing equipment, the second floor for meeting space (“Fireman’s Hall”). A bell from the old Academy was purchased for $5.00 and installed in a bell tower in this building.  In the event of fire, the bell was rung to summon the volunteers.

Since early in the century there had been considerable talk of establishing a Fire District in Bridgehampton.  Finally, in 1921, when the idea of building a Community House, in which a firehouse would be included, approached realization, the task of obtaining the necessary signatures for establishing a fire district was undertaken and accomplished.  On September 19, 1921, the motion was approved that if suitable quarters be built as part of the new Community House, the fire service would move in. It was decided that the Corwith Avenue fire house would be sold and the proceeds given toward the construction of the Community House. When the Community House was built in 1923, a firehouse had been included in the plans, so the building on Corwith Avenue was sold to the Baptist Church, and the firefighters moved into their new quarters. At this time, the Bridgehampton Hook and Ladder Company was dissolved after 28 years of existence.

On May 28, 1923, a fire district in the area west of the drainage line of Poxabogue, Sagg Swamp, Sagg Pond (extended in 1933 to include Sagaponack, and later Wainscott and Georgica) was approved by the Town Board of Supervisors. The new organization, to be known as "Bridgehampton Fire Department," moved into the Community House with the firefighting equipment. They were 56 men in the organization at the time. George Ruppel, who joined the Hook and Ladder in 1904, became the first chief of the Bridgehampton Fire District. Fred Sanford was appointed assistant chief; Dan Tucker captain and Frank Schenck assistant captain of the Hook and Ladder Company; Courtney Rogers captain and William Brown assistant captain of the Chemical Company. A siren was installed atop the new Community House to sound out alarms. As more equipment was acquired, the structure that had seemed so ample at first became inadequate and in 1938 an addition was built which about doubled the available space. In 1983, operations were moved to the present-day facility on School Street, just south of the Community House on the old fair and carnival grounds.

Fundraising had its earliest beginnings in 1911 with the first Fishermen's Fair. Later on, this became known as the Carnival. In 1919, the first motor truck was purchased for $1,450 "out of Carnival receipts." Today a favorite with the community is the annual Bridge Bucks Cocktail Party, held in July.  Funds raised by these events have been used for financial needs, miscellaneous fire and ambulance equipment and to support fire department activities.

We have come a long way from our original 15 founding members and one chemical engine over the past century. We now have about 100 members in four fire companies, an ambulance company and a rescue squad. Our engine rooms houses many pieces of well-equipped firefighting apparatus of which we are proud (can be viewed by clicking here).

This brief historical account of the Bridgehampton Fire Department since its founding in 1895, is one of fires we have fought, of fellowship, of brother and sister hood, and of caring for our community and beyond.

(Excerpt taken from the Bridgehampton Fire Department Cookbook from 1995 and Bridgehampton's Three Hundred Years from 1956.)