A Look-Back into Our History

Grand Oak Stairway on Fire

On February 1st, 1992, at approximately 4:00 am, Mifflin County Fire Dispatch alerted mutual aid companies to a possible structure fire in the area of 15 South Main Street, Milroy, Armagh Township. The home of the Milroy Hose Company #1 was ablaze. An arsonist had set a fire in the grand oak stairway leading to the banquet hall on the second floor. However, the alert tones had not been set off for Milroy Hose Company #1!

The McCoy family Stood Guard

The McCoy family, active members of our company who lived next door to the station, were awoken by the horrific scene unfolding next door. They rushed to the building and pushed the manual house siren button, alerting those who lived close to the station that their service was needed. It is said that Mrs. McCoy stood guard at a window with a garden hose, pouring what water she could on the fire. On the other hand, Mr. McCoy and their son started to pull the apparatus out of the building before it would be severely damaged by fire. Without the efforts of those first arriving to assist in firefighting and equipment salvage. Everything could have been lost without the prompt actions of the McCoys, the Warners, the O’Donnells, Chief Staib, Chief Wagner, Chief Stringfellow, members of our company, and mutual aid companies.

While in the wake of the station fire, the Big Valley barn fires occurred on March 14th, 1992. The grandson of a local Amish Bishop was convicted of setting fires that burned $1 million worth of barns and livestock on six Amish dairy farms. Amazingly, our team responded to each and every fire that night while operating out of makeshift fire stations and having members go wherever they were needed. At the time, a new station was in the works, located at 190 College Avenue, Milroy, the old Armagh Township High School site.

In the fall of 1992, though the metal building was only a shell with concrete floors, members were able to move their apparatus into the new station, finally having everything reunited under one roof! Spring 1993 marked the grand opening of Milroy Hose Company #1 at its College Ave location. This state-of-the-art facility houses a Banquet Hall capable of seating 200 guests, a full kitchen area, 6 door Bay Area for apparatus, storage rooms for EMS and fire equipment, and a mechanics room. A large social room provides a place for members to gather, in addition to an executive office, fire chief's office, EMS chief's office, bunk room for ambulance personnel, and a secure room for them to complete their reports.

Introduction of Deck-Mounted Deluge Gun

In 1970, an International Tanker was bought and, only a few short years later, became the only tanker in Mifflin County to have a deck-mounted deluge gun mounted to it, creating more water in volume and with greater pressure than any other piece of apparatus in Mifflin County. This move proved to be bold in itself but well worth the criticism that it received, becoming the first piece out of all structure fires. In the 1970s, we purchased our first van-style ambulance, which was manufactured on a Dodge chassis. To close out the 1970s, a 1979 Ford F-350 single-axle pickup truck was purchased and fabricated into a dual-axle mini-attack brush truck. It was placed into service and then moved to first response on all calls due to the upgrade in speed.

New Additions in the 1980s

In 1989, we placed into service its first custom-built engine, a 1989 FMC Spartan pumper, also showing the first building renovations in the apparatus area in years. This renovation was needed so that the new apparatus would fit in the fire station. Also, in the 1980s, a second Dodge ambulance was placed into service, coming from Wheeled Coach Ambulance Company.