Our History-

The Fire department's first apparatus, a used, rebuilt hand drawn pumper, which had been owned by Lansingburgh Lafayette Engine Co. #3 until February 23, 1865, was purchased by West Sand Lake Fire Department in 1874 for $650.00 from Lysander Button & Sons, a fire engine manufacturer in Waterford, New York. The WSLFD fireman called the apparatus "The Engine". Eventually, it was dubbed "Old Joke", apparently after the nickname of another hand pumper that had belonged to Washington Engine o. #4, also of Lansingburgh. "Old Black Joke" was an American privateer who gained notoriety sailing against British shipping during the War of 1812. Lansingburgh sold the Washington Engine Co. #4 pumper to the village of Saratoga Springs on November 19, 1863 for $700.00 after the pumper had been rebuilt by Button.

Somehow, people began to confuse the histories of the two pumpers. A strange legend developed that the Saratoga firemen were unhappy with their pumper and dumped it into Saratoga Lake. The legend continues that the West Sand Lake firemen heard about the pumper, and having no pumper of their own, they went to Saratoga, retrieved Saratoga's pumper from the lake, and to it to West Sand Lake. Even today, some people mistakenly believe that legend to be true. However, although WSLFD early records are scanty, they clearly show that the fire district paid the balance owed on the West Sand Lake apparatus. WSLFD minutes indicate that, through the years, the volunteer firemen felt a special attachment to their dependable pumper, it seemed that many of them did not like the nickname "Old Joke". In the 1920's, the minutes began referring to the apparatus as "Old Joe". The origin of that name is not positively known. But, it may have been to honor one of the members, Joel Hitchcock, who had given long and faithful service to the fire department. From that time forward, although the nickname "Old Joke" occasionally surfaced, the apparatus was usually called "Old Joe". Today that is the formal name of the apparatus.

Old Joe was sometimes drawn by hand with all available townspeople, including children, taking hold of the ropes and running to respond the apparatus to fires. But, the firemen, many of whom were farmers and were accustomed to handling horses, hitched the apparatus to horses to improve the response time. During the 1920's, they began hitching Old Joe to a member's truck to haul it to the scene. The fire known phone photograph of West Sand Lake's Old Joe was taken with the Company on the Company's tenth anniversary, October 5, 1882.

The fire district purchased its first motorized apparatus, a 1926 Sanford, on December 10, 1925 (contract date). The Sanford was in service until it was sold in 1965. On March 4, 1926, the Fire Department bought Old Joe from the district for the sum of one dollar. Thereafter, the apparatus was used mainly for parades and competitions. It was usually stored in a member's barn, and sometimes in the firehouse, until the Fire Company built permanent quarters for it. It was sometimes loaned to other departments for parades until one of them forgot to return it, and the WSL firemen had to request its return. Old Joe was once loaned to the students of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, who used it in a parade. In June 1986, the Fire Company decided to begin restoration work on the 1842 apparatus. Members spent many hours on research and labor, but some of the work needed to be done by professionals. The Fire Company spent more than ten thousand dollars of its fundraising money on the project. Today, Old Joe remains a favorite of bystanders at parades. The apparatus is depicted on the Company's official logo.

The next apparatus that was purchased new was the 1957 Mack pumper. The community was so excited over the purchase of the truck that 152 men joined the Fire Department during the decade of the 1950's-which was nearly twice as many as had joined during the previous decade. The Mack quickly became a favorite of the Company. A painting of the Mack hangs in the National Museum of Firefighting at Hudson, NY.

TODAY-

The West Sand Lake Fire Department has six trucks in service. The Fire Company still owns the 1842 Old Joe, and a Button hose cart, the latter having been purchased new by the Company in 1889. Other apparatus the department has today is a the 1957 Mack, a1971 International Brush truck, affectionately called "The Yellow Banana" because of its bright yellow coloring, 1987 Hahn engine which is the "first attack" apparatus, a 1992 Salisbury pumper/tanker which is known as "The Big K", a 1999 EVI Rescue Truck.

In 128 years, the district has owned twelve pieces of apparatus. Nearly eight hundred men and women have joined the West Sand Lake Fire Department in the course of its history.

OOPS - MISTAKE IN HISTORIC DATE FOUND

When the West Sand Lake patch was designed in 1978, a researcher incorrectly assumed that the incorporation date 1876 was the Company's origination date. Later, research showed the actual origination date to be 1872. By this time, however, the Company had been using the 1876 date on its official logo, including the patch, for almost two decades. After a motion was carried at the January 2, 1997 meeting to correct the date on the patch, the patch was redesigned to change the date to 1872. The rest of the patch design remains the same as it was on the incorrect 1876 patch. Almost everything else that has the company logo on it, including the letterhead, still bears the incorrect 1876 date. The first of the 1872 patches was given to Schuyler Hose Co. in February 1997 in tribute to fallen firefighter Brian Myers, Sr. who died in Schuylerville, NY fire on January 1, 1997.