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Our Non-Emergency Phone Number: 207-623-2860
Cheif Jim Owens
Email:firecheif@hallowellmaine.org
Phone: 207-623-2860
Physical Address: 124 Second St, Hallowell, ME 04347
Hallowell has the distinguished honor of having the first fire engine in this part of Maine, and probably in the State. It is still in existence. This engine is the property of the Vaughn heirs, who have a summer residence here, which was built in 1797. In the stable of this old homestead is still to be seen this little old tub. It has solid wooden discs for wheels which are bound with half-inch iron tires. The body or tank is five and one-half feet long, and in the center of this is placed the pump with one cylinder, working much the same way as the ordinary kitchen pump except it is worked by a pair of brakes. It has no means of taking water, but little leather buckets were used. The connections are all of brass to which is attached some fifty feet of leather hoses about the sizes of those used on a lawn, being riveted and capped by a nozzle over three feet long, forcing a half-inch stream. It is painted on the end "B. Vaughn, Hallowell," and is believed to have been brought from England more than a century ago. In the early days of Hallowell there was comparatively little danger of fire. The houses were larger and roomy, and constructed of heavy hewn timber, which at best could burn but slowly. Matches there were none; the fire being kindled by flint and steel and then preserved over night by burying a burning log beneath the mound of ashes, where it smoldered through the night until uncovered in the morning. It appears from an ancient town record that one danger must have been from carrying lighted coals through the street from one house to another.
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