The Fire Dance…

And a 1928 Chevrolet Pick-up Truck

In 1948, when I was 14-years-old, I was assisting Barney Pawlikowski putting in a new floor in the old barn at Bright Acres on Old Kings Highways, now owned by Richard Schenk. Barney was driving a beautiful (to me) 1928 Chevrolet pick-up truck he had made from a 1928 convertible. I said to Barney if he ever got a new truck, I would like to buy it. He said okay. Two years later, Barney called me on a Saturday afternoon and told me he had bought a new truck and I could buy the old 1928 Chevrolet for $25 and could pick it up Sunday morning.

One of the wonderful things growing up in Hampton was the Saturday Night Square Dance. On this Saturday night, the fire siren went off midway through the dance. The fire was across from the Little River Grange in the barn, which served as a workshop, owned by Fire Chief, Barney Pawlikowski. The members of the Fire Department arrived with the 1927 American La France, and all the square dancers formed a bucket brigade from George Howell’s well across the street to fill the fire engine.

My soon-to-be 1928 pick-up was parked in the barn and was moved out with the roof on fire. Barney called me the next morning to tell me about the fire and that the pick-up was saved, but the roof was burned off. He said if I still wanted it, I could buy it for $10. I bought it, repaired the roof, and enjoyed it for several years.

George Miller

A diary entry from “Hampton Remembers”:

Tonight the fire engine went screaming through town and Wendell dashed out, hailed a following car and went off to a fire. I lay in bed and listened to the wind tearing through the trees and I shivered with worry. I wondered whose house it might be, on this icy cold night. An hour later he was home, with red eyes and reeking of smoke. They had poured buckets of salt and sand down into a chimney fire way up beyond the railroad station. They had a terrible time putting it out – the fire kept rekindling – and finally they found that the lady in the house kept opening the drafts to build up the fire in her stove to make coffee for those nice helpful firemen!

from The Hartford Courant, June 22, 1960

Jerome Woodward, 8-year-old son of Mr. and Mrs. Andrew Woodward of Bigelow Road, has been awarded first state prize in the Juvenile Grange fire prevention contest. The contest was sponsored by the Patron’s Mutual Insurance Company… His entry was a shadow box divided in half. One side was the home of “Mr. Safe”, the other the home of “Mr. Sorry”. Mr. Sorry, a clay figure, was in bed with a cigarette, while Mr. Safe had put his safely out in an ashtray. Mr. Sorry burned his trash in the open, while Mr. Safe had a covered incinerator. Mr. Sorry had a penny in his fuse box, while Mr. Safe had extra fuses handy. Several other fire safety rules were similarly contrasted.

Jerry is the oldest of a family of seven boys, ranging in age down to 9 months. He is in the third grade at the Consolidated School. He has been a member of the Little River Juvenile Grange for a year and a half.