Valley Stream fire company celebrates 100 years
Engine 341 members reflect on history
Gerald Gerfit said that Engine Company No. 1 was the fastest outfit of the Valley Stream Fire Department in the 1960s, responding to calls before he could make it to the firehouse from his home a few blocks away. Nothing changed in the ’70s, he said, nor in the ’80s, ’90s and present day. But to Michael Jurcsak Sr. and his son, the dedication of senior members like Gerfit is what best describes the character of the unit known as Nassau Hose Company No. 1.
“When I was a kid, I remember him,” he said. “Now, my son knows him. He’s been here for 52 years himself. There’s just a lot of history here.”
In 2011, volunteers of the past and present continue to come together and look back on the company’s 100 years of service to the Valley Stream community.
The company was founded in 1911 by the department’s Board of Fire Commissioners, which included Dr. J. M. Foster, Joe Koelbel, Joseph Felton and Louis Buck. According to Jose Piniero, a former captain of the company, the department purchased a 25-foot wide plot of land running from Merrick Road to Lincoln Avenue where they would construct what looked like a barn house for Nassau Hose Company No. 1, which was officially formed on April 15.
After the bylaws were adopted for the company, William Keller was elected first foreman, and Andrew Meier was chosen to be assistant foreman. Jurcsak Sr. said the names of those involved with the company in the early years should seem familiar to Valley Stream residents. “We have Arthur J. Hendrickson park now, and his family was here,” he said. “The founding fathers of this engine company were the founding fathers of this village.”
Piniero said some of the biggest changes the company has gone through have been with its equipment and trucks — Engine 341 — which has operated with an RD Murray 1,500 gallons per minute pumper since 1994. But Nassau Hose Company No. 1 utilized horse-drawn truck with lanterns around the sides to get to local blazes until 1917, pumping water through the hose by hand until fire hydrants were installed in the village.
