Many photos here are courtesy of the Cranston Fire Department. Click on images to enlarge. In July of 1955, the fire department obtained a new ambulance which cost $10,050. It replaced the department’s 1942 ambulance which had been in service since WWII. The new ambulance was equipped with air conditioning, power steering…
Author: jim
Early Cranston, R. I., Fire Chiefs
Cranston’s first fire chief was Daniel F. Young, appointed to the position on December 20, 1920, after having served for ten years at the chief of the Pocasset Volunteers. Chief Young passed away in 1940, and was succeeded by his son, William, who was appointed chief in November of 1940. Like…
Richard S. Church – Cranston Fire Department
On February 27, 1954, the Cranston Fire Department received an alarm of fire at 58 Cliffdale Avenue in Edgewood, and apparatus from the Edgewood and Pawtuxet stations were dispatched. Driving one of the city ladder trucks was Private Richard S. Church, (26). Just as he arrived at the scene and brought the vehicle…
Cranston Print Works Train Wreck – 1891
Waterbury Evening Democrat – April 11, 1891
Daniel Young Cranston’s First Paid Fire Chief
Click on image to enlarge. Pocasset’s Fire Chief Daniel F. Young was appointed Cranston’s first paid fire chief on December 20, 1920 to head city’s the newly created permanent fire department. Mayor Horton had been advocating for a permanent fire department since early 1919. His plan was to establish a centrally located fire…
Mayor Horton Advocated Permanent Fire Department
Newspaper article dated February 2, 1919. Click on image to enlarge.
Howard Fire Company
Rhode Island State Institutions Property Little is known about this fire company. It probably was not a volunteer company in the traditional sense, and likely manned by inmates and officers at the state institutions. The state institutions in Cranston occupied the Howard area near present-day Garden City. (Where the name “Howard”…
Sockanosset Barn Fire – 1891
From The Howard Times, (Cranston, R. I.), June 6, 1891.
Cranston Print Works Fire – 1896
From The Providence News, April 1, 1896.
House Explosion – 1912
From the Daily Kennebec Journal, (Maine), August 26, 1912.