Department Commisioners

Formed as the Washington Fire Engine Co. No. 1 in the village of Sing Sing (now Ossining) on May 4, 1812, the company was the first company of volunteer firefighters organized in Westchester County.  The company was stationed in a frame shanty a short distance northeast of the intersection of Main Street and the Albany Post Road.  The first engine assigned to the company was a hand engine purchased from New York City in 1812.  Known as a "goose neck" for the hose of that shape attached to it, the engine had been stationed near the Washington Market in New York City and displayed a picture of George Washington crossing the Delaware.  This is most likely the origin of the company's name.  This particular engine also had a suction apparatus for drawing water which gave  it early superiority over engines purchased subsequently for additional Sing Sing fire companies that required lifting buckets of water to fill their tanks.

When "goose necks" became outmoded, $2,000 was raised by the citizens in 1856 for purchasing a new hand engine and a hose carriage.  Washington Fire Engine Co. No. 1 was to receive the hand engine and the Ossining Hose Company (Engine 96) was formed to operate the hose carriage.  The new engine and carriage were stored in a room at the old Eagle Hotel, located at the intersection of Main Street and the Albany Post Road.  The two companies were housed together at three successive locations including their current home at the North Side Firehouse on Snowden Avenue.  In 1890, when the hand engine of 1856 needed replacement, the company's members raised the money for a new one.  This apparatus was altered into a horse drawn truck with running boards on the sides, each of which could carry up to eight firefighters.  At this time, the company changed its name to Washington Hook & Ladder Co. No. 2.  

In 1918, a converted three-ton auto truck was the first motorized equipment to serve the company, and in 1928 a Mack truck with a 45-foot extension ladder was purchased from New York City.  The company applied for a new apparatus in the early 1950's, but the request was refused.  The members went door to door circulating a petition for a new truck and presented it to the Board of Trustees with the signatures of 80 taxpayers.  A brand new hook and ladder truck was delivered in 1952.  Ladder 42 was later assigned a 1970 Maxim Aerial, replaced by a 1990 110-foot E-One aerial and currently has a 2010 E-One 100ft rear mounted tower ladder. (TL-42)