Bedford Township,
Michigan                                       

History

The Bedford Township Fire Department has come a long way since its establishment on May 31, 1944 with the first purchase of a fire truck for the township. On October 9, 1941 the citizens of Bedford Township appeared before the Bedford Township Board to request that the Township establish a fire department.

Prior to that time and the time it took to acquire a fire truck the Township was provided fire protection by surrounding communities.

The first fire station was located on Temperance Road just west of Lewis Avenue where a station still remains today. Prior to the station being constructed the fire truck, a 1944 Howe, was housed at Floyd Clarks' garage on Lewis Avenue north of Erie Road. The first Chief of the department was William Hachman. Chief Hachman served for one year and then Floyd Clark became chief. Leo Bofia, Dennis Wilcox and John Bofia followed Chief Clark. In year 2000 the Lambertville and Temperance departments were combined to form the Bedford Township Fire Department. Two additions were added to the present fire station, on Temperance Road, one being in the late 60's and another in the early 90's. The method for alerting the fire department, when the department, first began operation was to call Farnhams Funeral Home, which was located across the street from the fire department. Personnel from the funeral home would go over and activate the siren to alert the firemen. This procedure was changed in later years when calls were directed to the Monroe County Sheriffs Department.

The second fire department was organized in May of 1948 in Lambertville. The Lambertville fIre department was established with $28,000 for a building and one truck. A 1948 Buffalo was purchased and housed in the Sunoco gas station at the comer of Consear and Secor Roads. The first appointed Chief was Eugene Sheeley who owned the gas station. Shortly thereafter the current Lambertville station was built at 3445 Dean Road near the intersection with Monroe Road. When first organized, if there were a fire, the telephone operator would call Gene at his station. He would drive to the fire hall and set off the siren alerting his 14 original volunteer members. Throughout the years the Lambertville station raised funds for the purchase of equipment and general expenses by way of bingo functions and coin collector cards, which were distributed and collected by the firemen. In 1972 the Lambertville firemen purchased the fIrst "Jaws of Life" in Monroe County.

A third station will be located on Lewis A venue approximately one half mile south of Stems Road on the west side of Lewis Avenue. It is expected that this station will begin responding to calls sometime this summer and assume full operation, with the construction of a new station, in year 2004.

In January 2000 the Temperance and the Lambertville departments joined forces to become the Bedford Township Fire Department, under the direction of Chief John Bofia. The department command structure was reorganized in January 2003 to provide improved command structure of the department. Also in January a township fire commission was put in place to assist the department as it develops in the future.

The department is currently manned by sixty-five volunteer fire fighters who cover an area of thirty-nine square miles and protect a population of approximately thirty thousand people. In addition the department has mutual aid agreements with all of the other fire departments in Monroe County, the City of Toledo, Washington Township and the City of Sylvania to provide equipment if necessary.