History
In 1949, residents of Guilford came together to form the Broad Brook Fire Control. Two weeks later, it was re-organized as the Guilford Volunteer Fire Department.
The first fire truck was a 1949 Chevrolet truck with a portable pump, hoses, nozzles, adaptors, a siren, a red light, a flashlight, a first aid kit, a little wooden ladder, and a 500 gallon tank (formerly and oil tank). Quoting The Official History of Guilford, Vermont: 1678-1962, "strangers were sometimes surprised to see a truck seemingly pumping oil onto a fire!"
The first "firehouse" was in a barn, across the street from the Guilford Fairgrounds on Weatherhead Hollow Road, and the truck lived there from 1949 until 1950. In 1950, it was moved to an old commercial garage at the intersection of Route 5 and Guilford Center Road (the building sat approximately where Richmond Auto Repair is now). In 1951, a temporary firehouse was built off of the basement of the house at the intersection of Guilford Center Road and Buck Hill Drive. In 1954, construction began on a new firehouse where the present one is located. This station was completed in 1957. This station served until 2005, when it was found to be too small for the growing fire department and we couldn't fit new apparatus inside of it. Tanker 1 is about 3 inches higher than the old bay doors of the old station. We had it demolished, and scattered our resources around town. Engine 3 was in a commercial shop on Route 5 in East Guilford Village, Engine 1 was in a garage on Sweet Pond Road, the old Tanker 2 was at the Highway Garage on Bennett Road, and Brush 1 and the Off Road Rescue Unit were at a garage on Lowry Road. The present station was completed by 2006, and will fit our needs with years to come.
Back in the early days of the department, the firefighters were just local farmers and shop-keepers who, when the old siren on the old station rang, would go to the station, jump into some make-shift fire gear, hop on the truck, and attempt to fight the fire. Today, our firefighters have to take tests and be certified by the State of Vermont. We have gear for every firefighter, and we make sure that all gear and equipment is ready to go every week.
In 1999, we began to respond and assist Rescue Inc. on emergency medical calls in town. In 2004, we had enough members certified so that we could become the town's Emergency Medical Service, still utilizing Rescue Inc. as the transporting ambulance.
On October 1, 2007, Chief Daniel Stoughton went on duty at the firehouse at 0800 hours. He is at the station as both an administrator and to respond on emergency calls. He can be found on duty at the firehouse, typically, Monday through Thursday, 0800-1300 hours.
Due to these changes, we now call our department, Guilford Fire & Rescue.
When we were looking through some of the old boxes that we took out of the attic of the old firehouse, we stumbled upon a book containing the original records of the department. I took the time to transfer them to the computer, and they can be found here.
