2020 has been a year like none other that any of us have ever lived through … but we’ve made it to the end! Here’s our annual countdown of our top photos of the year — the top 20 in 2020 for Beacon Hose! Captions are below.
1) Beacon Hose extinguished several car fires on Route 8 in January.
2) A January training put together by Cal Brennan focused on showing the effects of ventilation on fire behavior, as well as reading smoke.
3) Beacon Hose’s old Engine 1 arrived to its new home in the Dominican Republic in February after a group purchased it at auction and donated it.
4) Beacon Hose teamed up with firefighters from Seymour (Citizens’ Engine Co. No.2 and Great Hill Hose Co.) and Oxford (Oxford Center Volunteer Fire Company) to extinguish a seven-acre brush fire off Skokorat Road in April.
5) To show support for the frontline healthcare workers at Waterbury Hospital (Waterbury, CT), Beacon Hose set up Truck 6 with an American flag and a “thank you” banner outside the hospital in mid-April.
6) Beacon Hose firefighter/EMT Mark Pinto’s early-May wedding was postponed, but we helped him and Jen celebrate with a parade and pictures in front of their home.
7) On a May ambulance call on Blackberry Hill, our old BH-6 — a 2006 Ford — caught on fire and went out of commission until its replacement arrived in August.
8) A one-car rollover on Route 8 North in May forced crews to extricate a patient through the back windshield.
9) Beacon Hose crews visited the Bethlehem fairgrounds each Friday for months to receive PPE supplies from our Region 5 suppliers … near the end of that program, Rob Swercewski and Lauren Mulinski safely made a batch of bologna sandwiches for our friends who had a hankering in Bethlehem.
10) The sun sets in late June over a training session with our new Griphoist tool.
11) Beacon Hose was among a slew of local companies involved in fighting a large-scale fire at The Residences at Quarry Walk in Oxford in late July. Matt DeGeorge climbs Truck 6’s stick to go to work.
12) The moon rises over a red, white, and blue Beacon Hose in early August.
13) Beacon Hose’s new BH-6, a 2020 Ford, arrives for the first time in early August.
14) In the ongoing prank war with the Middlebury Volunteer Fire Department, Beacon Hose’s side real-estate venture, Bologna Brokers, placed Middlebury’s firehouse up for sale in late August. Despite many offers, the building was not sold.
15) Beacon Hose provided mutual aid for a fire on Main Street in Seymour in late August. Truck 6 was used to navigate some tricky access to the roof of one of the buildings.
16) Beacon Hose responded into Naugatuck in September for a house fire. Assistant Chief Cal Brennan climbs Naugy’s Truck 1 toward the home.
17) While many of Beacon Hose’s traditional fundraisers were canceled in 2020, we still managed to have one big event — our Boil, Broil, and Bologna Drive-Thru Dinner! It gave our carnival seafood crew some practice for the hopeful return of the carnival in 2021.
18) EMS training in October became a true hands-on experience.
19) A dump truck overturned at the bottom of Blackberry Hill Road in early December.
20) Santa Claus and his elf marked the return of Popcorn Ball Sunday in mid-December to help Beacon Falls celebrate Christmas.
Happy new year, everyone!