By Meg Peters
Review Staff Writer
In a token of nostalgia, the Orion Township Fire Department said goodbye to the original fire hall located at 37 E. Flint Street with the re-creation of an old photo.
The building in the picture, known to many as Village Hall, is set to begin its metamorphosis into Lockharts BBQ in the coming months.
Orion Township fire fighters of all positions assembled on Flint St., which was temporarily closed last Sunday morning Nov. 9, in an effort to cram everyone in to the original perimeters of the black and white photo. However, it seems that Orion Township, along with its fire crew, has grown substantially since its size a half century ago.
Based on the style of the trucks and gear Fire Chief Robert Smith predicted the photo to be from the 1940s. ‘We wanted to get one last photo before it was turned over to Lockharts,? he said.
After some research, Chris Hagan, Fire Prevention and Public Relations Officer, determined the two original trucks to be a Chevrolet and International fire engine which probably held around 500 gallons of water using 1-inch hoses.
Today, the OTFD Pierce engines in the re-creation photo carry 1,000 and 1,250 gallons of water and have hundreds of feet of various fire hose. Hagan and his brother Kyle, who is captain of Fire Station 2, put the idea into gear.
‘At its surface, it’s just a photo of a bunch of firefighters in front of a fire truck,? Chris Hagan said. ‘But we’re documenting history and time stamping a period that can be looked back on in the future.
We’ll give future generations 30, 40, 50 years down the line the opportunity to look at our trucks and gear and think, wow, I can’t believe they used to wear that stuff.?
Just like the feeling current fire fighters get when they look at ancient, 1940s gear.
The highest level of technology on those 1940s trucks might have been a low frequency radio, Hagan said.
At the time of the original photo, fireman were also shop owners and tradesmen who worked downtown. When a fire was called, fireman were alerted by a large triangle bell that hung in the original fire hall’which still hangs at Station 1 on Anderson St. today.
Fire rescuers would close their shops and race to the station on Flint St., hop in the trucks and set off. The Lake Orion Fire Department moved out of 37 E. Flint St. in 1980. Originally the LOFD covered the village and the township, hence both community’s titles on the trucks, out of two fire stations.
‘Fast forward to 2014, we have radios that talk across the county. We have emergency runs texted to our phones with linkable maps embedded, and we’re on the brink of adding 12 new full-time firefighters with run volumes at its absolute highest,? Hagan said.
Just last Friday, Nov. 14 OTFD made three fire structure calls in one day.
Modern OTFD trucks carry six seat-belted men unlike the 1940s trucks, have technical equipment like air packs containing 45 minutes of air, and use thermal imaging cameras, gas detectors and special firefighting foam.
Although the firefighters in the original photo are no longer around, or have no connections to the current department, Hagan hopes both photos will serve as milestone markers for the years to come.
‘It gives a solid memento to the firefighters on this department and to their families. No one lives forever but a picture can.?