When the Fredonia Fire Hall had become inhabitable by the end of 1902 and early 1903 Chief Zahm and the department recognized the necessity for placing the responsibility of making sure the apparatus was ready at a moments notice. It is also worthy of noting the events that had taken place nationally. The Women’s Christian Temperance Movement in the late 1870’s had moved through the area and the Progressive leadership of Teddy Roosevelt was filtering down into local communities. A critical eye was focused on many municipal organizations and the fire department may have been even under more scrutiny because of it just being reorganized and the new quarters being erected. Basically making sure that there wasn’t any ammunition for neither those critical of volunteer firemen nor the muckrakers of the newspapers.
By the 1930’s the Village Board approved of having two-hired fireman. Each fireman would work a twelve-hour shift and the fire hall would be manned at all times. These gentlemen were then considered an employee of the village and received a salary. As an employee of the village the “paid men” had certain duties to perform on a regular basis. They were expected to do basic up keep around the hall, do the necessary maintenance to the apparatus and equipment, answer the phone, keep some resemblance of order in the hall and be prepared to be called out for a fire. One interesting task the paid men had to perform was to light the street lamps on the main street. The first two professional firemen in the Fredonia Fire Department were E.E. Collis and A.P. Tatstor. Both Collis and Tastor were original members of the Lambert Hook and Ladder Company. This was the system in place up until 1943. That year the village added a part time paid man. This allowed for the two full-time paid men to get Sunday off while the part time man was on duty all day. After World War II transportation changed such that more people could live in the rural areas and take a quick drive to work. The Allegheny-Ludlum Steel mill, the canning company’s, and a growing faculty at Fredonia State Teachers College helped expand the village population. With this growth also came an increased demand on the Fredonia Fire Department volume of calls. In 1972 the professional firefighters personnel increased to five full time members.
On July 26, 1968 was when these firefighters officially organized and became known as the Fredonia Fire Fighters Association. The Association then became members of the International Association of Firefighters and the New York State Professional Firefighters on March 26, 1984.
Some duties take the professional firefighters outside the hall and provide services to the community. These areas include fire prevention programs to the schools and adult groups. They also provide training programs in the proper use of fire extinguishers. At the hall the career firefighters check and maintain the fire apparatus equipment, monitor and test the alarm systems on a regular basis and tackle the endless mountains of paper work.
A unique command structure exists in the Fredonia fire service with the combination of having professional personnel and volunteer. The professional firefighter is subordinate to the Chief and Assistant Chiefs who are volunteers. The professional personnel are affected directly when the volunteers make changes to standard operating procedures and policies. A recent change to the list of duties came in the early 1990’s. The decision to have the paid men become Paramedics is an example. They enrolled in a paramedic program that took a year of schooling, while working full time, and spent hundreds of hours of doing emergency room, surgical, and other practical requirements to receive their certification. This gave tremendous benefits to the department and the community. A paramedic would be on duty to the district 24 hours. This set the stage for Fredonia to become the first Advanced Life Support department in Chautauqua County.
There are a few items of interest that the professional firefighters have been noted for. John McCraith held the position of Deputy Fire Coordinator in Chautauqua County. We have had two father-son tandems serve the department. Harry and Bob Hayward along with Dick and Randy Butts hold that novelty. Randy was hired while his father Dick was still working as a paid man for the department. Randy also became the Emergency Medical Service County Coordinator in 1999. Carl Brandt broke the World Record in the Masters Division for the bench press in 2000.