History

Alden Fire Station Located behind the old Township Hall

The two men in the photo are George Smith and possibly Alva Crothers who was the
township maintenance man. He also took care of the fire trucks. This photo is mid 1960.

South Torch Lake Fire Department History From Local Newspapers

Fire Reports
Alden Wave, Mar. 29, 1906, – Local Waves,

Orson Park’s house caught fire due to a deffective
flue Saturday noon. A timely arrival of the bucket brigade subdued the flames in a short while.
Spencer Creek furnished the water so the damage can be covered.

The Alden Independent – from the Bellaire Independent
Thurs, July 23, 1908 – Volunteer Fire Department
At a meeting held early in the week by the business men and citizens of Alden, the matter of
proper fire protection for our village was thoroughly talked over and the following committee
appointed to organize a fire department: Chas. H. Coy, H. W. Rossiter, and Geo. Brownson. A
well equipped hook and ladder company and bucket brigade will be organized at once and
weekly practice drills will be held. This fills a long needed want in the village and property
owners will feel more secure now that this step has been taken towards the protection of their
buildings.

Sept 10, 1908 – Wednesday a number of men who were employed by Dr. Hoag went to
Comfort to fight forest fires. They found the fires were further away, so the fire brigade
returned home.

Oct. 8, 1908 – While the congregation was assembled in the Methodist Church Sunday, a
messenger came announcing that forest fires were dangerously near Williamsburg, and the
pastor dismissed the congregation who went out and fought the fire until the rain came that
night. ( Elk Rapids Progress has story)

The Alden Bee, May 27, 1915 – Torch Lake Breezes – Fire of unknown origin destroyed the
ice house and store room of Tellis Dufresne, Sat. P.M.

Antrim County News
Jan. 5, 1956 – The fire department was called out Saturday morning to a cottage opposite
Holiday Inn. An over-heated stove was responsible for the alarm, but no damage was reported.
Jan 12, 1956, p. 6 – The firemen met at the fire hall Saturday night to elect officers. New
president, Wilbur Walling, fire chief, Russell Wheeler, secy. and treas. Ernest Steiner.

Interviews :
Shortly after coming to Alden, Wilbur Walling joined the fire department. He
remembered that Hartley Comfort bought the fire truck for the department, so they didn’t have
to use the old hand pumper anymore. He said putting out fires was very challenging with an all
volunteer fire department. One fire he remembered was the Angel house which was a stone
building across from the post office. A man was living by himself and fell asleep on the couch.
When he woke, he discovered the house was on fire. He called his brother in Detroit who called
the fire department. Unfortunately, the whole fire department was in Bellaire, training with the
Bellaire fire department. They somehow got news of the fire, and both fire departments raced
to Alden to put out the fire. The building was burning badly when they arrived, and a strong
wind was blowing fire brands across town. It was all the firemen could do to keep other
buildings from catching fire. The building burned and only the stone structure was left.
Wilbur was the fire chief from 1971 until 1978. He said when he was fire chief, he
would arrive at a fire, and crawl in on his hands and knees and look around to see what the
situation was. Then he would tell his men how best to fight the

Other memories are:
“ One memory I have from the 60’s is the tall siren that was located behind the building.
When it went off all the kids in the neighborhood came running to send off the firefighters.
I also remember that the only truck got a dent in the fender and somehow a couple of us kids
got involved to help Alvie Crothers paint over the dent with red paint.
I remember a grass fire outside of town that burned pretty badly and a lot of the men (no
women at that time that I recall) spent hours trying to put it out. The smoke could be seen in
town and it was a scary feeling.”

Other Alden fires were:
The Depot burned to the ground in 1906 and a bucket brigade tried unsuccessfully to save it. 
The Coy store burned to the ground in 1923 along with Cranmer’s Restaurant and “Hospital for
Old Clothes” next door. 

 
Coy store photos of building burning and burned. I do not think there are photos of the Angel
house burning. FYI this is where the Torch Lake Inn is located and Harvey has preserved the
pieces of the stone wall. He is working on getting a historical plaque in place.
 The gas station also burned in the 80’s. It was located where the bank parking lot is now, in
front of the large white Armstrong house.