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Dedication

1911 The Bay Head Fire Company is formed.

 The days when Mabel went to blazes

 Bay Head’s remoteness was grand until fire struck, as it did in the small hours of Sunday, Nov. 26, 1911. A locomotive engineer saw flames as he approached from the south, tied down his whistle. But Bay Head had no apparatus of its own.

 The nearest company was the Bay Head-Pt. Pleasant organization at Bay & Laurel Aves. (now Pt. Pleasant Beach Company No. 2). Brielle, Manasquan and Spring Lake also responded, but the Old Homestead and the Carleton Priest and W. F. Jones cottages at Howe & Main were total losses.

 That did it. Bay Head formed its own fire company within two weeks. Its early equipment was hand-drawn, although it had horsepower in theory. But horses were skittish and not always handy when needed.

 Equipment was housed at the back of the Borough Hall, and firemen were summoned by a big ring gong. By the late ‘30s, Bay Head had an alarm system with 10 strategically placed boxes and a horn that announced the fire’s location.

 In early years there were many spectacular blazes, including a home on the oceanfront at Egbert St. in 1916. Nearly all the volunteer firemen were attending a formal dance of the Bay Head Social Club that evening, and they fought the fire in top hat, white tie and tails. But then, in Bay Head even a disaster has a certain amount of class.

 The fire company became motorized in 1916 with the purchase of “Mabel,” a Steams touring car with confusing right-hand drive that added Keystone comedy effects in hectic moments. Mabel carried water and hoses.

from the book "In Old Bay Head" author Dick LaBonte                                 

Christmas in Bay Head
Townspeople ring in
the holiday season

By Dick LaBonte

 In 1963 The Bay Head Fire Company moves into a new, $15,000 building.  It is of colonial design and has three bays facing Bridge Avenue with a meeting room in the rear.

 It now sits on the west side of Scow Ditch across from its long gone quarters in the old borough hall which used to be on the East side of Scow Ditch. The old building housed  police headquarters, the fire department, and a large 2nd floor meeting room equipped with a stage that was used by towns people including the children of Bay Head School. It was deemed structurally unsound and was torn down shortly after the new fire house and town hall where constructed.