Hamden Firefighting

Incorporated in 1786, the town of Hamden covers nearly 33 square miles immediately north of New Haven, Connecticut. Despite significant industrial growth in the early 19th century and several devastating fires, Hamden had no organized firefighting forces until its first volunteer fire company was organized in 1896. By 1925, the handful of independent volunteer fire companies that followed became the Hamden Fire Department. A predominantly volunteer force before World War II, the department grew to 55 career members by 1950 and to 124 by the mid-1980s. The ascendency of emergency medical services and, more recently, a concern for homeland security have greatly expanded the department's role in public safety. Although 1990s municipal austerity measures reduced department size by 20 percent, with a population today exceeding 60,000, fire department responses have increased to more than 10,000 calls annually, of which 74 percent are for EMS.

In Hamden Firefighting, Hamden municipal historian David Gray Johnson, a retired Hamden Fire Department captain, has compiled over 200 vintage photographs of Hamden's fire companies, apparatus, historic fires, and other major emergencies. The 100-plus years of images, captured by dozens of professional and freelance photographers, strive to convey the timeless sense of mission, dedication, and camaraderie that are so much a part of the fire service everywhere.