There are also in the Navy Yard, two excellent Fire Engines, well manned, and which, together with those from New-York, generously come to our assistance when ever our place is visited by that dreadful calamity, fire.
The receipts of the Fire Department, from 1794 to 1815, amounted to £898 10s. 1d. and the expenditures from July 7, 1795, to November 15, 1816, amounted to £964 3s. 3d.
The office of Clerk and Treasurer of the Fire Department of this town, was held by John Hicks, Esq. until 1796; at which time John Doughty, Esq. was appointed, who held that office until the incorporation of the village in 1816, when he was appointed Chief Engineer of the Fire Department of the village, which office he held for one year. In 1817, William Furman, Esq. was appointed Chief Engineer, and officiated in that capacity until 1821, when, on the resignation of Mr. Furman, John Doughty, Esq. was again appointed, and continues to hold the office. The present officers of the Fire Department are,
John Doughty, Chief Engineer.
Fire Wardens. Joseph Moser, Edward Coope, Joseph Sprague.
April 16, 1823, an act was passed by the Legislature of this state to incorporate the firemen of this village, by the name of the “Fire Department of the Village of Brooklyn.” The act allows this corporation to hold, purchase, and convey any estate, real or personal for the use of the corporation; provided such real or personal estate shall not at any time exceed the yearly value of $1000. The following officers were appointed by the act of incorporation, viz.
- John Doughty, President.
- Joshua Sutton, Vice-President.
- Richard Cornwell, Secretary.
Trustees. Jeremiah Wells, Morris Simonson, Michael Trapple, Joseph Moser, George Fricke, Gamaliel King, Simeon Back, Parshall Wells, George L. Birch.
The laudable object proposed by this institution, is to raise a fund for the relief of widows and children of deceased firemen.
By an amendment to the act of Incorporation of the village of Brooklyn, passed April 9, 1824, it is provided, “That all fines and penalties under any by-law of the said village, in relation to the burning of chimneys, and for the preventing and extinguishing of fires, and also, all fines and penalties either under such by-laws, or under any statute of this state, in relation to the manner of keeping and transporting gun-powder within the said village, shall be sued for in the name of the said Trustees, (of the village of Brooklyn) by the fire department of the said village, and when recovered shall be paid to the said fire department, for their own use.”