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.

Inspection Picnic 2008

Fishkill, NY - Saturday, June 28, 2008 The annual Department Inspection was held followed by a Clam Bake at Sarah Taylor Park in the Village of Fishkill. The weather was great for the Brothers and their families to enjoy an afternoon of recognition and camaraderie. Joining the Department for the event were several mutual aid department representatives, officials from the Village of Fishkill, and other close friends of the Department.