IN an
emergency dial 911
Non-Emergency:
262-782-5885
Too Hot for Tots Bath
Thermometer
Pancake Breakfast Benefit
4-11-2008
The Village of Elm Grove, and City of Brookfield Fire Departments are
holding a PANCAKE BREAKFAST
for the Wendy Gribar-Wucherer Memorial Fund to benefit the Wucherer
children. The breakfast will be held at the Elm Grove Fire Department
on Sunday, May 4th between 8:00 AM and noon. Tickets are $5.00
in advance or $6.00 at the door; $4.00 in advance for children 4-12 and
$5.00 at the door.
Tickets can be purchased through Elm Grove or City of Brookfield firefighters
or to make reservations in advance, please mail checks and reservation form to:
The Elm Grove Fire Department
Attn: Pancake Breakfast
13600 Juneau Blvd.
Elm Grove, WI 53122
Make checks payable to: Elm Grove Fire Department
For additional information, contact Jennifer Morris. Her e-mail address
is: jennifermorris @ wi.rr.com (to use the address, you
must remove any spaces).
Donations to the Wendy Wucherer Memorial Fund can be made through any M&I
Bank or at the Elm Grove Fire Department the day of the breakfast.
Download
the flyer for contact information. (Note: document is in pdf
format and is 3MB in size.)
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Join the Elm Grove Fire
Department
The
Elm Grove Fire Department is made up of a proficient team of fire service
professionals, providing a quality service to the Village, stressing safety for
residents and department members.
In 1956 a group of Village residents formed the Elm Grove Volunteer Fire
Department to provide the Village with affordable, efficient fire
protection. Through the years the department has kept pace with changing
technology in fire service by continuously upgrading volunteer training,
personal equipment and apparatus. Each month the department trains on a
different aspect of fire service operations, ranging from Hazmat Awareness to
Rapid Intervention. The EGVFD has strong relations with it's neighboring
communities through joint training and Mutual Aid Response agreements.
The department is always looking for new volunteers from the community
to join them in this worthwhile effort. If you are over 18 years of age,
interested in learning life and property saving techniques while serving the
community, stop by any Tuesday evening for a tour of your fire house facility,
between 7:00 p.m. and 9:00 p.m.
We also have a Fire Department Explorer Post Program
for youths between the ages of 15-20.
For further information on either the Fire Department or Explorer Post
programs, please call us at 1-262-782-6700, ext 251.
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History of the Elm Grove Fire
Department
This is a historical recap of the beginning of the Elm Grove Fire Department.
On Oct. 12, 1955 a group of residents of Elm Grove got together to discuss forming a volunteer fire department.
The meeting was held at Ramstack's tavern, known later as Verbrick's on the Watertown Plank Road. The meeting was attended by the list of charter members which hangs on the wall of the fire department. Some of the charter members thought a fire department was a good idea but when it got organized, they lost interest and were not active as firemen.
It was agreed to start forming the fire department and Roger Allen was selected as the first chief. Allen was employed by the Ansul Company as a zone manager. Ansul is the worlds largest manufacturer of fire fighting equipment and currently in the Tyco group. With his many job connections, he began to organize the department and accumulate manpower and equipment.
The department officially started service on May 1, 1956.
The first trucks were two new Dodge commercial chassis types. One was purchased from Pierce in Appleton, the other from Seagrave in Pennsylvania.
Within a few years, the department purchased a used ladder truck from the City of Portage. This truck had an open cab so when it rained the driver simply had to drive slow and squint. But it was a true ladder truck as it had a 40' wooden extension ladder with stay poles to hold it up. It was driven from Portage to Elm Grove by John Bunce, Pete Eisenmann, Don Hetzel and Roger Allen in 15 degree weather. Reports are they took turns driving.
This unit was kept about three years and sold or traded to a city in central Illinois. It was delivered to them by John Bunce, Pete Eisenmann and Roger Allen in 95 degree weather. The story goes that they had to stop outside of town to cool down the engine before making the delivery.
The first fire house was in the T.V. John building directly across Juneau Boulevard from the current fire house.
In order to get the truck into the building, it was necessary to remove the front bumper so the doors of the building could be closed. The TV John Building was razed
in 2005 as a part of a village flood control project.
The second truck was kept at a garage on 124th street south of the Watertown Plank Road.
Dick Smith, local grocery store owner, was appointed Assistant Chief and Peter Eisenmann was appointed Captain . Since 1956, the department has had seven fire chiefs. In order, they are listed as follows:
Roger Allen 1957-
Florian Assman, Acting
Wm Neimann 1966-1967
Arthur Haley 1968-1969
Duane Reusch 1969
Wm A Schneider 1982
Wm Selzer 1989
In 1957 or 1958, Elm Grove responded to a lumberyard fire on 121st and Dearbourn in the then Town of Wauwatosa. This was a large serious structure fire and considered the first major fire fought by the Elm Grove Fire Department.
Most of the early fires in the village were grass fires set along the railroad tracks by the trains passing through the village. Elm Grove was not as developed as it is today and had considerable open grass area. As this did not contribute to a variety of fire fighting applications, the work was somewhat repetitious.
Roger Allen was removed as Chief of the department in the mid-1960's for starting a late night structure fire to give his firemen a change of pace.
Later large fires included a basement fire at the Notre Dame Sisters building, a night club fire on Bluemound Road and two large train wrecks in the village.
In the early days of the department, many of the surrounding communities were similarly structured and each relied upon the other for mutual assistance, more so than today.
Often assistance was supplied by chiefs Jim Plank of the Town of Brookfield, Jim Babe of Pewaukee and Joe Dougherty of Butler.
Elm Grove had two major train wrecks, in 1957 and in 1988. The last one was on Aug 8 and was during a very debilitating heat wave and high humidity period. Many Elm Grove firemen put in extraordinary periods of duty during the cleanup of the 40 or so train cars off the track in downtown Elm Grove.
Elm Grove suffered with major flooding in 1973, 1997, and 1998. In the flooding in August 1998 the lives of two young boys were lost. They were swept into the storm sewer at the corner of Sunny Slope and Watertown Plank Road. Two other members of Post 449 were rescued from high water.
The department operates 4 vehicles after 50 years. A Freightliner 3600 gallon tanker, a 1989 and 1990 Pierce Lance raised cab engines and a 1998 Pierce 100' platform truck.
We currently have 45 members and have become a paid on call department.
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The Elm Grove Fire Department has teamed up with
the Wisconsin Alliance for Fire Safety through a gracious donation from the Elm
Grove Junior Guild to bring to the residents a New Life Safety Program.
Scalds from hot water are the number one cause
of death and injury to children under the age of four.
 "Too Hot for Tots Bath
Thermometer"
The bath thermometer is a guide to test the
temperature of the bath water before your child is placed in the tub. The
bath thermometer can be used over and over again.
Safe temperature for bathing is about 100
degrees Fahrenheit or 37 degrees Celsius.
"Too Hot For Tots Bath Thermometer" can
be picked up at the Village Hall front desk Monday through Friday, 8:00 a.m. -
4:30 p.m. The cost of the bath thermometer is FREE to all Village
residents.
For further information in regards to the
program, please contact the Elm Grove Fire Department at 262-782-6700.
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Last modified: 04/11/2008
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13600 Juneau Boulevard