Salamander H.L. & B. Co.

Salamander Hook, Ladder & Bucket Company

HISTORY

The Beginning

The Salamander Hook, Ladder & Bucket Company was founded on March 1, 1902, in the home of Thomas T. Ramsden. He and a handful of residents had been discussing the fire protection problem facing the increasing population of Ocean Side after a fire had destroyed a farmhouse near the present-day intersection of Brower Avenue and Harold Street.

At this time, bucket brigades were the most common mode of fire protection. Ramsden and the others present wished to form a body of men upon which neighbors could depend to answer calls for help at any time of day and in any weather condition. Twenty men met with Ramsden at his home on Oceanside Road on that Saturday in 1902 and proposed to form a fire company for the hamlet of Oceanside. On this day, the men agreed to name the organization in honor of the salamander.

Legend holds that Ramsden, in his travels as an oyster salesman, frequently stopped at a firehouse between Oceanside and the City of New York. At this fire station, the firefighting equipment was pulled by a horse bearing the name of Salamander. In nature, salamanders are amphibians which have been known to nest in decaying trees. When men would burn these logs, the salamander would be seen walking forth from the fire, giving the creature the reputation of being born of the fire and capable of living in the fire. Such a reputation would certainly be fitting of the men who intended to fight the beast of fire.

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