The original Belmont Fire Company was organized March 11, 1882. In 1884, the George H. Blackman Hose Company was formed. From 1890 to 1896, the records show that another Company was formed, the date of which is not known, named Elba Reynolds Hose Company. These two companies, the George H. Blackman Hose Company and the Elba Reynolds Hose Company, formed the first Belmont Fire Department. This was September in the year of 1896, with E.S. Richardson as its chief, C.E. Wallace as secretary. In 1896, the Reynolds Hose Co. brought about the erection of a hose house on the east side of the river, this location was where Felix Motor’s occupied for storage. The department went on until February 1897, when the George E. Blackman Hose Company disbanded its name and became the Williams K. Paul Hose Company. These two companies continued in this manner for several years, using the old hand-drawn hose carts, hand pumper and sweep pumper. The Second fire station on ‘the other side of the river’ was located on North Street. Up until recently the building that was used for storage by the Belmont Hardware store. This building was torn down in 2005/06 to make way for a larger storage building. In the old firehouse located in the back of the building was a small office and a one-room cell used to house prisoners in the early days.
Motorized equipment was now coming into use, about the year 1900 on, the village property owners voted to purchase a motorized pumper in 1925, a Larrabee 500 gallon pumper. It was thought that for the betterment of the town and village, by both companies that a consolidation was necessary and so both of the organizations were disbanded and the new Belmont Fire Company was formed in May of 1925. The personnel from both companies were united in a 40-man company, under the guidance of Chief E.S. Richardson and Assistant Chief Earl L. Burdick.
In 1930, a drive was made to serve the whole township of Amity and this accomplished a 1931 Chevrolet pumper (2-E-58) was purchased with a booster tank and suitable equipment to answer the needs of the community {as of July 2017 this truck is still listed as In-Service with the County Fire Service Office, the oldest in the County.}
The year 1948 is one we all remember and thank the village and its people for the new fire hall, a new modern fire truck and the nice meeting rooms we have. The building erected, fire truck received and both the hall and trucks were dedicated, with an open house, on a Sunday, April 1949. Our new building sits over the foundation of the old gristmill that was once located here.
In the years from 1949 on, the department moved along in very satisfactory manner, officers moved up as elections were held, and in 1954 a new Chevrolet truck with Young Fire Equipment was received. This was very modern for the time, a 935-gallon booster tank, and a 500-gallon per minute pump and other accessories. It replaced the 1931 Chevrolet, which was completely restored and still in service.
Now, the time had come when we were asked to do emergency work or ambulance service, due to the undertakers giving up this service. Embser Brothers of Wellsville donated a panel truck with a stretcher for our use and we answered calls when needed. Later we purchased a panel Chevrolet van (2-M-08) and equipped it with a modern stretcher, oxygen tanks, inhalators and other modern and elaborate first aid equipment. This was in operation around December 1966. The need was greater as the years passed, and several citizens organized and formed the Amity Rescue Squad in 1969 and relieved us of this obligation.
Firemen noticed that in the outlying township and fire district was hard to cover with the numerous camps and seasonal locations, in 1967 through the efforts of the firemen and William Laidlaw, Inc., a Chevrolet four-wheel drive chassis was bought to serve the places that the big trucks could not reach. This truck was known as the brush buggy. This truck carried 250 gallons of water, two booster reels, Indian Guns and other equipment for fighting all types of fires. This was the first of its kind in the County.
As the GMC 2-E-15 was now seeing its last days of service, and after many hours of discussion the town and village ordered a new Chevrolet chassis, which was sent to Anderson, Indiana, and the most modern equipment was put on the truck. This included a 1,000-gallon capacity tank, with a 750 gallon per minute pump, and the most modern top mount controls. This was also the first of its kind in the County. The truck was welcomed by the town and was christened by Mrs. Melba Mickle, better known to all in the fire service as Mrs. KED-620.
Due to the many fires outside of the village, it was necessary that we have a tanker. The firemen and with a lot of help from others, purchased an 1800 gallon tank on a Chevrolet chassis. This was delivered to us in June 1973. It was equipped with a portable pump, dump tank and other needed equipment and will be known as 2-TA-13.
The most disastrous experience came on June 21, 1972, when hurricane Agnes flooded our building with 51 inches of water on the floor. Our trucks had been moved to various locations and safe from the flood waters but we were unable to save our trophy cases, furniture, other valuable items and irreplaceable Company records. We had a member that had responded to this emergency also lose his new car to the flood waters that had now engulfed our building and property. When the floodwaters had receded his car was found several miles down stream. With help from many wonderful people and all the firemen we were able to replace the lost equipment, furniture and other items lost in the flood and were now again ready to serve the people.
With rumors of a new Court House to be built, expansion of the B.O.C.E.S Center and other building being contemplated on the County Road 48, more adequate equipment was needed. The pumper bought in 1954 was now over 20 years old, and in need of many repairs. Through the town and Village Boards means were made available to order a new and larger pumper to replace the 1954 pumper. A Chevrolet chassis was purchased and sent to Anderson, Indiana to the Howe Fire Equipment Company. After many months of waiting, on November 20th, 1977 the new truck arrived in Belmont. It was welcomed at an open house on the 21st, and was christened by Mrs. Melba Mickle.
This truck similar in many ways to 2-E-15 carries 1,000 gallons of water has a 1,000 gallon per minute pump, 2 enclosed reels, oxygen tanks for immediate use, and other fire equipment and is known as 2-E-16.
Several pieces of equipment were purchased in the late 70’s and early 80’s to bring the Company up to top efficiency, air tanks, power saws for both cutting steel and wood, smoke ejectors, and a second dump tank for the tanker. A 16-foot aluminum boat, known as 2-E-105, was purchased, life vests for use if needed, 3 sets of draglines were also available.
We were able to purchase a used ambulance (1974 Chevrolet Van) from Amity Rescue and was renovated for our use and replaced old 2-M-8 and put into service in early 1980. A donation from the Civil Defense Department enhanced our fire fighting equipment with a Fire Emergency Suit.
Also in 1980 Plectron Monitors were purchased and distributed among the members. Each member was given his own turnout gear (coat, boots and helmet), and is covered by the County Mutual Insurance and Firemen’s Benefit Law.
In 1984 the Company purchased a Chevrolet 4-wheel drive mini-pumper (2-M-60). This truck was used as a fast attack truck and also used to fill tankers. This truck had a 250-gallon tank with a 400 gallon per minute pump, some of the extrication equipment was also carried to the scene of car accidents.
January 1st, 1989 at 00:00 hours the fire and ambulance services saw the end of an era and the consolidation of emergency dispatching to the Allegany County Fire Control Center. This was brought about by the retirement of Melba Mickle after 25+ years of service working from her home. The ‘fire-phones’ that were in many fireman’s homes around the County would slowly disappear over the next several years. For sometime, the Belmont Fire Department had been dispatched by the Allegany County Sheriff’s Office, this was our first step to consolidation. Prior to this members of the fire department were responsible to answer the emergency calls from the fire phone network that had been setup. Our department was among the first in the county to make the transfer to the county for centralized dispatch.
In 1990 the first diesel truck was purchased, a GMC, 4-Guys 2,000 gallon tanker and after a minor mix up on the chassis Automatic versus Standard, our representatives that were sent to the manufacturer finally got the original specifications that were sent to them to point out the truck was on the wrong chassis. The specs called for a standard and the truck almost complete was on an automatic, after some negotiations the correct chassis was finally delivered, replacing the 1983 truck.
The Department was kept busy, along with most of New York State and neighboring areas, when the Ice Storm of 1991 devastated most of the county. Power lines and 100’s of trees were brought down making travel and emergency response difficult at best. Because of the widespread damage many areas were without power for up to a week, some areas longer. The department and the community came together working to clean up after the storm.
In 1992 a KME Class-A Pumper was put into service, replacing the 1974 pumper that had served the community for many years. It carried 1,000 gallons of water and a deluge ‘deck’ gun mounted near the top-mount panel. This was also the first automatic transmission truck in our fleet.
We also acquired a hand-pumper that was reportedly an original piece of equipment in the Belmont Fire Department, this, however has not been able to be confirmed one way or the other, so we say it is. With the assistance of one of our members and the A.R.C. who spent countless hours working on and restoring this piece of equipment we now have a fine example of fire fighting equipment of days gone by, and it will still pump water.
In 1995 the department began the tedious job to update the rural numbering for our fire district. This monumental job was to prepare for the County to change over to Enhanced-911 that provided accurate address locations to our emergencies. The Enhanced-911 system went on-line in the County October 16th, 1996.
In 1996 the Herbert W. DeLong American Legion Post #808 purchased the Jaws-of-Life and accessories for the Department to help better serve the community and travelers that came through our area.
As we came into the 21st century we also updated a truck, replacing the 1976 Chevrolet pumper with a 2000 International Class A pumper. This truck was designed to serve not only as a pumper but would be used as a rescue type vehicle, responding to the ever-increasing number of motor vehicle accidents.
We started raising funds to also upgrade our heavy extrication tools looking at a unit that would be lighter to handle and give us more portability. Finally after much fundraising and a grant from Senator Cathy Young we were able to obtain this important rescue tool and were put into service in 2005.
It was now time to replace the 1984 mini-pumper that was accomplished in 2008 when we put into service a Ford 550 mini-pumper; this however, was not the same in versatility as the truck it replaced. Also in 2008 we saw the closing of the Schuyler Street Bridge over the Genesee River for replacement. With the bridge out this caused an inconvenience for our response and travel to the station house because of the detour. The bridge was re-opened in October 2009 with the new bridge being much higher and different than the old one. The increase in the height of the bridge also changed the landscape in front of the fire hall raising our driveway nearly 20 inches.
In 2012 we decided that the 2007 Ford mini-pumper was not meeting our needs. We sold that and replaced it with a 2005 Chevrolet 2500HD that we converted into a brush truck. The truck was equipped with a skid unit that had a 70 gpm pump, held 200 gallons of water and 10 Gallons of foam. We also upgraded our 1990 4 Guys GMC Tanker to a 2012 Crimson Kenworth Tanker that has a 500 gpm pump and a 2000 gallon tank.
In 2014 a committee was formed to look at renovation or relocation of the current fire hall and in January 2015 a new location was selected and purchased just outside the Village. Plans are now underway for the design of new facility that will serve the Fire Company and the citizens we serve for many years to come.
In 2019 PMAC welding built us a mobile chicken bbq cooker, we transitioned from burning wood to utilizing charcoal. This made allowed us to cook our chicken more uniformly and in less time. We also formally became a registered Non Profit Corporation and the IRS designated us as an 501C7 public charity.
In late 2019 discussion was started regarding the formation a Joint Fire District. On February 17, 2020 the Fire Company presented a plan to The Village of Belmont Board of Trustees and soon after the same presentation was given to The Town of Amity Town Board. Both boards decided that we needed to pursue the formation of a Joint Fire District as it was in the best interest of the community. The Covid-19 Pandemic delayed any further action on this until July.
On July 27th, 2020 a Joint Public Hearing was held at the Fire Hall to discuss the possible formation of a Joint Fire District, there were approximately 55 people present. On August 3rd 2020 The Village of Belmont Board of Trustees unanimously passed a Resolution to form the Joint Fire District with The Town of Amity Town Board to follow on August 10th 2020 with a vote of 4 AYE, 0 NAY, and 1 ABSTAIN. On August 27th 2020 a petitioned was filed with the Town of Amity Town Clerk against the resolution. This petitioned put the Joint Fire District on hold as it forced it to Referendum. On December 2nd 2020 a special vote was held on the Joint Fire District that ended in favor of the Resolution passed on August 10th 2020 with 168 AYE (75.34%) and 55 NAY (24.66%). On December 14th 2020 The Town of Amity Town Board passed a resolution summarizing the events taking place to this point and Appointed our first 5 Fire Commissioners taking office October 2nd 2021. Appointed Commissioners were; Daniel Woolston, Christopher Horton, Dana Hand, Mark Presutti and Dennis Bliven.