Hook & Ladder Company No. 1
The Hook & Ladder Company No. 1 was organized on December 1, 1877 and predates the Babylon Fire Department.
The charter was signed and read as follows:
"We, the undersigned, believing that the Village of Babylon is in need of protection in case of fire, hereby voluntarily organize ourselves into association to be known as Hook and Ladder Company No. 1, for the purpose of preventing and extinguishing fires and saving property. It is agreed that ten men, thus enrolled forthwith, shall constitute the charter members of the company; and on completion of this enrollment they shall proceed forthwith to elect officers, adopt proper by-laws for their government, appoint suitable committees and otherwise complete the organization and prepare for active duty."
Charter members: Henry Livingston, John J. Lux, Alanson Weeks, Frank F. Jacobs, John T. Brown, A. E. Cornelins, W. F. Norton, E. V. Brown, Joseph H. Cummin and John H. Baylis.
The first piece of apparatus, a hand drawn ladder wagon built by Buckley & Merritt of New York, was delivered on December 28, 1878 and was stored in the rear of the Signal office.
The current truck is a 2000 Sutphen 95' aerial platform.
In December 1977 Hook & Ladder celebrated its 100th Anniversary at LaGrange. The entire Department was invited. The highlight of the celebration was Percy Arink at 95 years old (75 year member at the time) telling about the horse drawn fire trucks: If you were out and about in your horse drawn buggy and the bell sounded, they would take your horses for the fire trucks and leave you to walk home, and when they returned to quarters they would hook them back up and send them home.
In 2002 Hook & Ladder celebrated its 125th Anniversary, and in true Hook & Ladder form, as not to interrupt the 100th Anniversary of the Electric Hose Company, the Company celebrated its 128th Anniversary in 2005 aboard the Lady Liberty Cruises out of Port Washington.
The company has produced many Chief officers; Henry Livingston (1881), Joseph Cummin (1881-1884), Alanson Weeks (1884), Stephen Titus (1885), Treadwell Kellum (1886), Fredrick S. Thorpe (1888 & 1900), Gustave Fishel (1889), Lyman Kent (1903), Charles Kelly (1904-1905), John Stanton (1914), Leon Pettit (1915), Percy Arink (1919-1928), Milton Arink (1934-1935), Alfred Southard (1940-1941), Frank Bockelman (1948-1949), John Duggan (1952-1953), Charles Reeves Jr. (1970-1972), Raymond Baldwin (1982-1984), Richard Steinhauer (2000-2002), Kevin Morrow (2008-2010), and Scott Glenn (2016-2018.)
