Photos by Rev. William Siktberg

The late afternoon of Friday, October 8, 1971 was mild. The evening rush hour was starting to die down. Of course that is a relative statement because the evening rush in those days usually didn’t last but a half hour or so. It was about 5:30pm when men working in the back yard noticed smoke coming from the basement. Protection Engine Company responded immediately to the alarm of fire on Main Street, which turned out to be the largest (3-alarm) such Main Street blaze since the Grand Union Plaza fire in 1962. The building that housed the Fishkill Tire and Auto Supply Company, at what is now 1103 Main Street, had an abundance of thick black smoke seeping from it. The building, for many years before the Tire Shop took up ownership in 1969, was home to Auchmoody’s Fishkill Hardware. It was the last in a series of abutted brick structures that started at North Street and moved west- The Busy Bee, The White House, Edmond’s Florist, and Fishkill Tire. A driveway separated Fishkill Tire from a wooden frame house occupied at the time by Arthur and Cecile Stern, proprietors of the Fishkill Department Store. Another drive way, then the small building housing Otto’s Meat Market, a larger building housing a Barber Shop, and then the Van Wyck Hall. The brick buildings were all built after the disastrous fire of 1871 that destroyed a good deal of Main Street. The fact that the Tire Shop blaze occurred within a couple of months of the 100th anniversary of that disastrous blaze was not overlooked by many of us.

Unionville, CT - 1979 Protection Engine Company firemen of Fishkill paraded in Unionville, Conn., Saturday evening and walked off with three trophies.

911 Coin Drop

September 23, 2001, the Fire and Police Organizations within the Town and Village of Fishkill rallied together to raise money for the families of our Lost Brothers from the tragic events of September 11, 2001 (9-11). A coin drop was held at Route 9 and Route 52 in the Village of Fishkill and Route 9 and Merrit Blvd. Through the generous donations of motorists, pedestrians, and many local residents over $16,000 was collected for the families of lost Fire, Police and EMS personnel.

WE WILL NEVER FORGET!

April 12, 1979 - Smoking in bed may have been the cause of the fire at the Fishkill Inn, Main Street, Fishkill, which took the life of one man early last Thursday morning, according to Fishkill Protection Fire Engine Company Chief Rad Wilson.