Floral Park
Fire Department
Serving With Pride For 125 Years
Alert Engine Company No. 1
Alert Engine Co. #1 circa 1907
It was on February 11, 1907 that the Alert Engine Co. #1 was formed when a group of men banded together to form a fellowship in order to help their neighbors in time of need. These men left us with a feeling of great pride and tradition which still carries over today.
​
Yes, gone are the fire hoses and the steam engines, even the fire horn, enter the adoption of gasoline and diesel driven engines, task force nozzles, foam and state-of-the-art breathing
apparatus and most importantly a paging system. Come to think of it when Alert first started, it was only a hose reel with some 700 feet of hose. Today, the Alert Co. carries well over 3,000 feet of hose plus many hand tools which our predecessors never new existed and that would boggle their minds. Who would have thought that the use of the radio would be such a help to today's volunteer opposed to the speaking trumpet used by the Chiefs and company officers in years past.
​
The volunteers of the past were a proud group of men and this certainly hasn't diminished over the years. At one time, the Alert Co. had three Ex-Chiefs of the department who had put in 180 years of firefighting experience. They were Ward L. Hoffman, Chief 1928, Joseph A. Odermatt, Chief 1944, and Edward G. Meserole, Chief 1954.