Smithtown FD-Engine Company 4 celebrates their 40th Anniversary

March 1, 1972 Company 4 was organized in March of 1932. Originally called Rescue Hose Company 4, the fledging company was equipped with a 1931 Chevrolet Hose Wagon that had a propensity for burning out connecting rod bearings, especially when it was necessary to climb a hill. The truck had no pump but was used to carry hose and other equipment to fires, as a supplement to other apparatus which, at the time, consisted of a 1926 Hook and Ladder on a Chevrolet Chasis, a 1925 Larrabee pumper and two 1927 Reo Speed Wagon Pumpers. The Fire Department minutes of the time didnt make much mention of the formation of the new company. It was a time of great need for additional firemen and even boys still in high school were recruited, and excused from classes when the siren blew. The first Captain was Carlyle Fanning Hodgkinson, he was succeeded, in turn, by Bill Owens, Andrew Thoma, Norman Steel, Floyd “Jeff” Sanford, John W Jones, George Wilson, Frank Handschur Jr, Norman McBurney Jr, Robert Brenston Jr, Leonard Brenston, John Aiello, Gerald Record, Martin Faeger, Robert Simpson, Edward Van Buren and Arnold Gustafson. The Company captain on this date in 1972 is Norman Harz. Company 4 moved into their current location on Plaisted Avenue in 1966.