Aurora Beacon News - March 19, 2006

Aurora fired up about department's 150th anniversary
By Andre Salles, Staff Writer

AURORA — On July 1, 1856, a group of 63 men came together to form the Young America Fire Company No. 1.

In August of that year, they had their first meeting in their new firehouse, on North Broadway between New York and Spring streets.

Two months later, their first fire engine arrived, a hand-pumped model ordered from a company in New York.

And in 1869, they changed their name to coincide with that of their home city, christening themselves the Aurora Fire Department.

Things have changed since then — in 1906, for example, the AFD responded to 137 calls, compared with 14,493 in 2005. And the department now sports nine stations, including the central one, one block up from the very first station on Broadway.

This year, the AFD turns 150, and the department will celebrate in style.

They've planned a yearlong event that revolves around a three-day festival in downtown Aurora in June, complete with firefighting demonstrations, contests and a focus on the history and heritage of the department.

"I've been referring to it as a three-ring circus, but in a good way," said David Lewis, curator of the Aurora Regional Fire Museum, housed in the original station on Broadway.

Lewis has been at the forefront of the planning for the anniversary celebrations, along with a 30-member committee made up of local business representatives and firefighters. That committee's chairman is Assistant Chief John Lehman, who considers it the department's duty to remember its roots.

"This department has a lot of proud traditions," he said. "It's our duty as well as our desire to know where we came from, embrace that and pass it on."

The big event kicks off with a firefighters' golf outing at Bliss Creek Golf Club on June 22.

June 23 will be firefighter night at Downtown Alive, the free summer street festival on Downer Place. It will include demonstrations of early firefighting equipment and a performance by the fittingly named band Hot Rocks.

On June 24, the history of the AFD will march before your eyes in a parade scheduled for 1 p.m. Old and new equipment and engines will accompany active and retired firefighters, as well as an honor guard and a bagpipe and drum corps as they parade through the downtown, ending up at the block of Broadway that houses both the Central Fire Station and the Fire Museum.

After that, there will be an all-day party in that block, including demonstrations of firefighting techniques, and an automobile extrication competition between four regional fire departments.

Music will be performed by the band Generations, and Fay's Barbecue will provide food. Tickets will be available for $10 at Central Station and the Fire Museum starting this Monday.

The mood turns more reflective for June 25, as the fire department hosts a memorial service for those who have lost their lives in the line of duty, followed by a firefighters' reunion and picnic.

Also in the works is the dedication of a plot south of the Fire Museum as a new Aurora Firefighter Park, which has been planned for some time, according to Lewis.

Other events throughout the year include the unveiling of a new badge for firefighters, one that acknowledges the history of the department, and the creation of a commemorative patch that touts the 150th anniversary.

Additionally, there will be an old-fashioned fireman's ball in October, though plans are still being discussed for that.

For Lewis, this yearlong event is a fulfillment of his mission, as the caretaker of the AFD's history. He's thrilled at the opportunity to get more people interested in the story of the AFD, and to celebrate the present and future of the department.

"You have to know the past to appreciate the future," he said.

Call Lewis at the Fire Museum, (630) 892-1572, or log on to www.auroraregionalfiremuseum.org for more information.

03/19/06