Yeadon Fire Company

The company was founded on April 15, 1904 by a group of 12 men who held a series of meetings in various citizens homes. The first activities of the Yeadon fire company included cake bakes and other fund-raising projects to get enough money for fire equipment. A few months after organizing, the company was able to purchase its first fire apparatus, a horse-drawn hose cart. When horses were not available, the cart was pulled by men who labeled it ''old grunt an groan.'' The men soon found a way to make certain that a lack of horses was a rarity. They came up with a plan that made the borough's teamsters and liverymen as enthusiastic in answering fire alarms as were the volunteers. The first man with a horse at the firehouse after the sound of the alarm was paid a flat fee of $2 for pulling the cart. The system worked until 1922, when the fire company purchased its first motorized fire apparatus, a three-quarter ton REO truck. The members themselves worked to convert the truck into a chemical and hose fire apparatus. In fact, they also used the truck to pull the hose cart. In 1926, the fire company acquired a Ford chassis. A wooden hose body was built by one of the members and "old grunt and groan'' was retired from service.

"We started formal training in 1929 with the Philadelphia Fire Department," they said, and with Chester in 1930. Then in 1939 the fire company went in for formal training in a big way and had continuous instructions since. The fire company sends men to the Pennsylvania Fire Training School in Lewistown and to the regional and county training schools. It has five men acting as instructors in the county school at Ridley Park and has been in charge of Ladder classes at the school since 1948. Another facet of fire protection lauded by the fire company is the location of the fire hydrants. ''They are located around the borough so that they're within 500 feet of each other,'' The firefighter explained the hydrants afforded good access to any dwelling fire in the borough and that the fire company would use suction pumps to draw from the waterways and lakes only in the event of extreme emergency. In the early 1930's the fire company had 2 motorized pumpers and a ladder truck.