Orleans Fire Department marks a century and a half

by Joseph Gresser

ORLEANS — Vermont parades almost invariably save fire engines, with their lights flashing and sirens blaring, for the final act, finishing up the lineup. Not so on Saturday, when a parade wound its way through Orleans.  It had shiny red engines in front, in the middle and at the end of the procession.

That was fitting, as the parade was held to honor the one-hundred-and-fiftieth birthday of the Orleans Fire Department.  Much of that department’s origins are lost in the mists of time, but it certainly was formed to protect only the village, current Orleans Fire Department Chief E.J. Rowell said Monday.

One artifact that remains from the first days of the Orleans fire brigade is a hose cart, basically a pair of thin wooden wheels with a reel between them.  A hose is wrapped ….

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