Farmersville Fire Co. year 1944 (before offical charter)

Fire Station

Farmersville Fire Company was offically chartered in 1948 and a building was built. In 1975 the original building was removed and a new station was built.

Truck History

The first truck that Farmersville Fire Company had was a 1933 Chevy Chemical, later coverted to a 300 GPM pumper. The next truck was a 1948 Ford Darley 500 G.P.M pump. The rest of the trucks were purchased in this order:

  • 1960 GMC/Howe 750 G.P.M. engine
  • 1968 GMC tanker with 1,500 gallon tank
  • 1983 Ford Pierce 1,000 G.P.M engine
  • 1990 Pierce Lance tanker with a 3,000 gallon tank
  • 1984 Ford E350 ambulance (purchased in 1993 and was modified for a squad)
  • 2001 Pierce Dash with a 1,750 G.P.M Hale pump (purchased in 2001)
  • 2004 Freightliner Squad with ambulance box.

Autobiography of a Veteran Fireman

My first recollection of the West Earl Township Fire Co. was when Brownstown was West Earl Township #1 and Farmersville was West Earl Township #2.

I recall going to Brownstown Fire Co. meetings with my dad. Brownstown was getting another fire engine and plans were to put the Model A Ford at Farmersville. This started a movement for a Farmersville Fire Co.. The Model A Ford had no cab, I believe it had solid tires. It required an acid mixture for pressure, what little it had. The acid came in 5 gallon bottles, with wooden cases built around each bottle. We had about 2 dozen smaller containers that held about 2 quarts of this mixture that we would prepare ahead of time. These containers were stored on the side of the engine. There were two 30-40 gallon tanks on the engine. These had water in them when engine was in shed. Each tank had a special compartment to put in one of these smaller containers. You would give the tank one-half turn, and this would release the mixture in the tank. Agitators would cause this mixture to cause pressure for fire fighting. As one tank was being used, the next was prepared. I kind of remember that the agitators were hand cranked. This mixture sure was messy. What didn’t burn in a house usually was ruined by the acid. The fire hose was only about 2” in diameter. Irwin Burkholder, Paul Lausch, Clarence Horst, and Martin Hoover, were some of the pioneers to get the Farmersville Fire Co. going. While there were still two companies known as West Earl Township #1 and #2, there was a fireman’s convention hosted by these two companies. In about 1939 there was a parade of fire engines that started at Brownstown and went to Farmersville. The parade turned around at the Farmersville School (known as the Hans Graf School at that time).

The first fire I remember that the Model A Ford was used, was when Joe Nolt’s house burned (the farm across from Farmersville Equipment). The fire was on a Saturday noon. They returned from a Saturday morning church service to find the fire co. at there house, battling a fire. Martin Hoover (one of the firemen) lay on the floor to be able to see better below the smoke. After the fire was out they saw he was lying between the refrigerator and the gas stove!

This prompted the need for better equipment, so we got a 1936 Chevy Truck with a water tank built on it. We equipped the truck with a portable pump that could be carried by four men to a water source, cistern, or stream, not accessible by truck. This eliminated the acid mess. I think Jared Stauffer (Martindale) built this new engine for us.

This “new” engine would not fit in Irwin Burkholder’s shed (Irwin Burkholder lived on what is now the John Kurtz property), for it was too big for the space available there. It was moved to the Clarence Horst property, the first shed on the left on North Farmersville Road (This shed is still standing today). There were no helmets or masks. Coats and boots, what few we had were hung beside the engine in the shed.

1941 – 1945 was World War II times. There were very few men in Farmersville between ages 18 – 40, because many of them were drafted into the Armed Forces. This caused some changes in the By-Laws of the Fire Co.. Because they needed more help, they lowered the age requirement form 18 years to 16 years. That left 6 of us “younger” fellows into the Fire Co.. They are all 6 shown on the picture in the case in Farmersville Fire Co.’s meeting room. Irwin Burkholder, Martin Hoover, and Paul Laush, are also shown on the same picture. Irwin Burholder was the chief, Paul Laush had an office, but I am not sure what it was. There were very few people to fight fire in those days. Sometimes non-members would help as need arose.

One of the first fires I remember with the 1936 Chevy, was Stauffer’s Furniture Store (East Main St. Ephrata, along Route 322 near Weaver's Pre-Cast). Farmersville was the first to put water on the fire. We would carry the portable pump to cisterns or whatever we source we could find and pump into the tank on the truck. When Ephrata got water we were asked to go into Ephrata on stand-by. They had pool tables upstairs in their Fire Hall. We played pool until daybreak, until they returned. This happened in about 1944 or 1945.

Another fire call was around midnight on a Sunday night, in the fall of the year, at Wanner’s Pump Works (just east of the Hinkletown Mennonite School). Martin Hoover drove the engine; I was standing on the back, nearly frozen till we got there. As we were going down the East side of Fairmount Hill, a bearing went out on the fire engine, but we continued to the fire. Henry Hoover Sr.., who lived on a farm at the Cover Bridge, said he heard the bearing go out from his place.

Ken Buchen and I took the fire engine for a Saturday afternoon run, which was customary to run the engine occasionally. I was driving, and we drove to Diamond Station, across to what is now Route 272, and back to Farmersville. I backed the engine in the shed at Horst’s and drove my car home. As soon as I got out of the car the fire alarm went. The fire was at the Sam Martin Farm (now the Leroy Martin Farm), where we had just passed about ½ hour before. The barn was burning; again the Farmersville Fire Co. did its thing, till the other fire companies got a relay going from the Conestoga Creek. It was very cold, the ground was frozen, and it was after dark. We started having some problems with frozen water hoses.

Another barn and tobacco shed burned on the Sam Shirk farm on Pool Rd. (now Shirks Bike Shop). It was a very cold night with lots of snow on the ground, and fire was believed to be arson. I was driving a 1940 Plymouth at the time and I stopped at the Fire Co. “shed” and picked up all the coats and boots and headed for the fire. I knew the firemen would surely need the extra coats tonight. When I got to Pool Rd., they did not want to let me in because the high snow banks allowed only one lane of traffic. When I told him what I had, he said “Go ahead, they will surely need them”.

Fire Co. meetings were held in the Farmersville School. The fire alarm was on a pole at the square of Farmersville. As the custom was with all fire companies at that time, the fire alarm was activated each Saturday at noon.

A lot has changed since then. As near as I can tell, these recorded events are fairly accurate.

Written by: Leon Hoover & Eugene Hoover