In the late 1930s, after a number of large structure fires near Harlingen, Reverend William Owen, pastor of the Harlingen Reformed Church gathered several residents of the area to discuss forming a fire company.  At this time the closet fire companies were in Rocky Hill and Neshanic.

The Montgomery Township Volunteer Fire Company No. 1 was formed and incorporated in 1939.  Meetings were held in the Harlingen School adjacent to the Church.  Leroy Higgins, one of the charter members, offered a bay in the Belle Mead Garage as the firehouse. 

There were sixty-eight charter members from the community which extended from Falcon Road in Hillsborough to the town of Blawenburg in Montgomery.  As this is being written in August of 2010, Charles Grayson, a charter member resides at Stonebridge in Montgomery Township.  Much of the early history in this article is from his book, “Gleanings from the Past, Memories of an Old Farmer” published in 2006.

The charter members were: Eugene Allen, Abraham Bender, Oscar Benjamin, Carl Bergen, Edgar Cain, Jr., George Cramer, Clifford Cunningham, Albert Davis, Jr., Alfred Davis, Lemuel Davidson, John E. Dixon, Elmer I. Drake, Henry Drake, Lester Drake, William S. Drake, Franklin Dunham, Richard England, Seth England, Peter Fedun, Michael Fenyk, John Ficken, Charles Grayson, Peter Grossman, Charles Handler, Joseph Handler, Willis Herder, Leroy Higgins, Raymond Hoagland, Phillip Jackson, Theodore Johnson, F. Joseph Kozesnik, William H. Labaw, Jesse Lake, Legrand Leonard, Frank Lubas, Michael Malko, Stephen Malko, Everett May, Joseph Merk, Michael Miles, Franklin Montague, Paul Noll, Robert Norton, Russell O’Brien, John W. Orr, William Owen, Harold Pearson, Michael Phillips, Clive Pressy, Frank Rocknak, Robert Rosenberg, John F. Shinkos, Abram Slover, Enock Slover, Harry Slover, Irving Slover, Ray Taylor, William Tedford, James Terraciano, Charles Van Nuys, Herbert Voorhees, George Walker, George Warmke, Ralph Westervelt, Albert Windas, George Yantz, Sr, John Yantz and Raymond Yantz. 

The first engine was a used Childs 500 gallon pumper purchased from New Egypt, NJ for $300.00.  Members were called to fires by a siren which was operated by the local Belle Mead Telephone Company and mounted on top of the Belle Mead Garage.  Members had to call the telephone operator to find the location of the fire.

A new fire engine was purchased after World War II, a 1947 Ward LeFrance 500 gpm pumper.  This engine had a 500 gallon water tank, 100 feet of preconected booster hose, generator with spot lights and all the equipment mounted on the running boards.

In the 1950s a new two bay firehouse was built along side the Belle Mead Garage.  The fire company had purchased enough land to have a baseball field adjacent the firehouse.  At that time all the local fire companies had hard ball teams with an active league.  The firehouse had a kitchen, meeting room and shower room for the ball players.  Funds were raised by the yearly Firemen’s Fair on the ball field and weekly bingo games in the firehouse.

Another vehicle was added in 1957, a 1000 gallon tanker on a Ford Chassis with a 250 gpm direct gear pump.  By this time there was another fire company in Montgomery Township and three in Hillsborough so two way radios were added.  This helped communication between fire companies, but receiving fire calls had become more complicated.

The local independent telephone company (Hillsborough & Montgomery Telephone Company) had modernized by installed dial telephones and no longer had local operators.  If you called the operator to report a fire she was probably in New Brunswick or Trenton.  For a few years we used an answering service on East Mountain Road to receive the calls and activate the new sirens.  We now had two, one next the new firehouse and one by the Montgomery Municipal Building on Harlingen Road.

Some time in the early 1960s the gate guards at the General Services Depot (an Army Depot during World War II) took over receiving calls on our telephone number and activating our sirens and pagers.  We now had desk top radio receivers.  We could also talk to the gate guards using our truck radios.  When the GSA Depot did away with their gate guards and fire department we were dispatched by the Somerset County Park Police until they were absorbed by the Sheriffs’ Department.  Montgomery Township had a police department and dispatcher by then and they took over until about 2006.  Now Somerset County Office of Emergency Management handles 911 calls and dispatches the volunteers through our pagers and telephone.   Our fire company is not old enough to have originally been called by hammer and iron ring hanging in front of the fire house as you see in some companies.

1966 Maxim 750 gpm pumper was purchased which necessitated the truck bay to be expanded by discarding the removable partition that created the meeting room in the back of the firehouse.  The Ward LaFrance pumper was sold sometime after the bicentennial parade on May 27, 1972 to an antique dealer, we thought, but it was seen a few years later in an orchard in Pennsylvania.

In 1967 we added a forth vehicle, a Dodge Power Wagon Field Truck with 250 gallon water tank, Indian Tanks, booster hose and tools to fight field fires. We purchased a large portable radio (the battery about the size of a laptop computer) and had a bracket to mount it in this truck.  The chief could now have a portable at a fire scene.  This is also about the time we purchased our first Scott Packs and carried them in cases in compartments.

October 14, 1972 we dedicated our expanded firehouse. The expansion included four bays, one of which was long enough for two trucks, front and back doors.  Also included were a member’s lounge, with a bar and a meeting room in the back.  By this time local hard ball leagues were disbanded, we no longer had yearly fairs so the building was expanded onto part of the ball field and the rest was sold for the new post office.  Funding had become a problem and a fire district for the northern half of Montgomery Township was formed.  The ownership of the fire trucks was transferred to the Board of Fire Commissioner for the sum of $1.00 each.  Tax money was now used to purchase and maintain the vehicles as well as pay for training and equipping the firefighters.  The land and building continue to be owned by the incorporated volunteer fire company who rented it to the Board of Fire Commissioners.

An Emergency-One Pumper with 1000 gallon tank and 100 gpm pump was added in 1977 and the Ford tank truck was sold to a local farmer who used it as a grain truck.  It has recently (2010) been seen in a local shop being restored.  Our fire company name was still on the door.

In 1989 a Pierce Lance Pumper replaced the E-One pumper which was then converted to a rescue truck carry the Jaws of Life.

A Pierce Arrow Tanker/Pumper was purchased in 1985.  It carried 3000 gallon on water, a 1000 gpm pump, ladders, hose and all the equipment for a Class A pumper.  It was very large and heavy and fit in the fire house with inches to spare, but that quantity of water at the fire scene was a great addition.  We no longer had to relay water for a mile or so using multiple fire companies, nor did we have to carry small portable pumps to a stream or pond for a water source.

The community was growing with fewer farms, more houses and more traffic on the roads resulting in more motor vehicle collisions.  In 1996 we added a Pierce Dash Rescue Truck and our firehouse had run out of space.  This truck carries rescue equipment, lights and a breathing air cascade system.

In June of 1998 a new large firehouse was dedicated on Griggstown Road on two acres of land given to the volunteers by the developer of Pike Run Development.  The old firehouse and land were sold to the Belle Mead Garage and the money used to build the new eight bay firehouse.  The new building can house all our vehicles with room around them to work on them inside.  We have a meeting room, small kitchen, radio room, chief’s office, men and women’s locker rooms with showers, an exercise room and members lounge.  There is enough room to keep our antique 1966 Maxim and hose cart inside as well as the boat given to the emergency services by the Montgomery Rotary Club.

A year after moving into the new larger building, we added a 1999 E-One 105” ladder truck with 2000 gpm pump.  A second engine was added in 2003, an E-One with 1000 gallon tank and a 2000 gpm pump.  We now have two engines, a ladder, a tanker truck, rescue truck and field truck.

August 2004, we replaced our 37 year old field truck with Ford forest fire truck.  This new field truck has front and rear winches, two booster lines, a preconnected forest fire line to be used from a platform behind the cab.  The Indian Tanks have been replaced with water vests and many tools are carried in the compartments.   We also added a chief’s vehicle and wet them both down in August 2004.

Our 22 year old tank truck was replaced in 2007 with a Pierce on Mack chassis 3000 gallon tank truck with a 1000 gpm pump and remote controlled rear and side dump chutes.  This truck also carries a portable 3000 tank and is part of the South Somerset County Tanker Task Force.

In 2009 the Chief received a new Chevy Tahoe and the former chief’s truck became a utility vehicle.  As I am writing this history, the fire company is preparing to wet down (celebrate) the addition of our latest piece of equipment, a 2010 Pierce pumper carrying 1000 gallon of water with a 2000 gpm pump and all the related equipment.  This replaces a twenty one year old engine.

As this volunteer fire company approaches it 75th year we have come a long way, from a used engine in a single bay in the local garage with meetings in the Harlingen School to a modern firehouse.  We have nine pieces of active equipment including a boat and over fifty well trained members, all volunteers.

Dan C. Pullen

August 2010