Reporting by Erin Hajian
With a past that predates DCR management of the Blue Hills Reservation and a present that reflects an ongoing threat of brush fires, you may wonder what firefighting was like when the Metropolitan District Commission (MDC) managed the park. If so, then this story is for you! Long-time FBH member Bruce Talanian was part of the all-volunteer Forest Fire Fighting Group (also called the Fire Brigade or Fire Committee) from 1986 to 2001. Talanian was gracious enough to share some of his personal experiences with the group.
A call for volunteers to join the Forest Fire Fighting Group went out on July 27, 1977, about a year after a group of Milton residents became the first official “Friends” of the park. According to FBH notes, the goal was to recruit 200 “woodswise, physically fit, trained and equipped fire fighters” to support professional firefighting departments of the border towns.
“At the time I joined, there were around 15 members,” said Talanian. “I joined toward the tail end of it when [the group] was just starting to slow down.” Talanian joined a few years before the brigade stopped accepting members and ultimately shut down.
Location Notes
The original location for the committee’s headquarters was the “house on the hill,” right next to the Ponkapoag skating rink in Canton. Towards the end of the brigade’s existence, the headquarters moved to MEDITECH in a side building that wasn’tt in use. It wasn’t until the mid-1990s when MEDITECH was being remodeled that the fire group moved again to the Milton police station, using one of their conference rooms to meet. Who knew that those places we see on our way around town, are the places that once held meetings for our very own fire brigade!
Training and Tools
To become part of the brigade, you had to complete fire training in Canton. And, although brigade members didn’t fight any big fires in the Blue Hills, they helped control small hotspots around the reservation that were either too small or too hard to get to with professional fire-fighting equipment. Members were fully equipped with classic fire-fighting tools such as Indian pumps, rakes, and brooms – but had to purchase the tools themselves (in 1977, fire brooms cost $5 and 5-gallon Indian pumps were $66). Members of the fire brigade were also the first to use two-way radios. These radios made all the difference in getting hold of park rangers and police quickly. Until then, brigade members notified the others through pagers (or beepers) and a phone tree. If you didn’t have a pager, a landline phone was the only way to get the word.
In 1992, with just a few members left, Talanian says the MDC vision of the role of the FBH fire brigade started to shift. “I was asked to help change the direction of the committee,” said Talanian, “from physically fighting fires to more reporting on fires.” The brigade eventually disbanded in the 2000s due to budget constraints and liability concerns.
Modern Fire-Fighting in the Blue Hills
Today, the park is kept safe by professional firefighting departments of the towns surrounding the park, with occasional assistance from other towns, as needed. For example, the Houghton’s Pond area fire in mid-November included help from Braintree, Canton, Milton, Randolph, and other towns from the area.
The Bureau of Forest Fire Control and Forestry actively works to protect the people and forests of the Commonwealth, providing aid and assistance when needed. While the FBH fire brigade is no more, you can do your part to protect the forest!
Learn more in the FBH blog post “Embracing Fire Safety: Enjoying the Blue Hills Reservation Responsibly.”
All photos are of documents in the FBH archives.
