Serving Great Neck Since 1901
At the dawn of the twentieth century, New York City's population watched with
consuming interest the antics of what the city newspapers called "Great Neck's
Millionaire Fireman." The Alert Engine, Hook and Ladder and Hose Company got
more than its share of publicity in those days, for it was one of the few fire companies
in the world that could boast the names of a dozen or more universally known tycoons
on its roster.
It was through these millionaires who lived in the colony of
Great Neck that the alert's were able to raise funds to maintain the Fire Company
which was organized in December of 1901 with fifteen charter members and five trustees.
During the two or three years following the organization date, the coffers of the
Alert's were not what one would call bulging so the firemen began a fund raising
drive directed primarily at the wealthy residents.
Every Wednesday evening
during the summer months, the Company attired in their natty uniforms and accompanied
by the Great Neck Band, would visit the homes of several of the millionaires in the
area. After the rendition several popular numbers by the band, the Company's first
Fireman, (forerunner of today's Fire Chief) Egbert E. LeCluse, would introduce the
members, explaining what they had done and what they proposed to do, providing they
could raise enough money toward construction of a building. The Wednesday evening
tradition began in those early years continues to the present day. The Alert's still
hold training drills on Wednesday nights at headquarters!
The men who helped
foot the bill for the Alert Fire Company, each of whom was several times a millionaire,
were pictured in newspaper cartoons as socialite "fire laddies" who ran
with the apparatus and horses of the Alert Fire Company. Usually pictured at the
head of the smoke-breathing horses were J. Pierpont Morgan, king of American financiers,
and William R. Grace, merchant prince of the seas. Following these leaders were other
"moneybag" fireman, including such notables as Cord Meyer, William G. Brokaw,
Joseph P. Grace Roswell Eldridge, J. B. Webb, H. P. Booth, J. A. Jones and George
P. Dodge.
While the Alert's were conduction their fund raising campaign they
shifted their headquarters from one site to another. There one piece of apparatus,
a hose reel, was housed for a time on Arrandle Avenue and then moved to the Great
Neck League on Middle Neck Road.
After colleting enough funds to buy a piece
of property and commence construction of a building, the Alert's held the formal
opening of the new firehouse on July 25, 1904. With their new house, and a hose reel
and pumper, to say nothing of 300 feet of light hose, the Alert's were a rip-roaring
crew! How they got to fires was sometimes an anxious question since they did not
have their own team of horses. When the fire bell tolled, it did more than announce
a fire, it was the starting gun for some heated competition among all those in town
who owned a team of horses. The man who could get to the firehouse first and hook
his team of steeds to the waiting equipment was paid for the task of hauling the
men and apparatus to the fire!
When the Town of North Hempstead and the villages
in the area began contracting for fire protection with the passage of the Maloney
Act in 1913, most of the financial worries of the Company came to a halt. Community
interest involvement with the Alert's. however, did not abate. Millionaire auto maker
Walter P. Chrysler., of Kings Point, became of one the first honorary members of
the Company, and donated to them a one-of-kind Chrysler fire truck! In the years
following, the Alert's increased their membership until today, when the roles are
limited to one hundred-fifty volunteers.
