Keyport Fire Department

The Keyport Weekly had warned the people of Keyport about the danger if fire for years.  However, until 1877 no one seemed to be very concerned about organizing a fire department.  At 11 PM. on Friday, September 21, 1877, disaster struck, and by 6 a.m. the following day over thirty-three buildings had been destroyed.  On October 10, 1877, it was voted to procure a ladder truck with twenty-four leather buckets and tools, and on February 28, 1878, the Key Port Hook and Ladder Company was formally organized, with a membership of one hundred men. 

On August 5, 1889, the member of the Keyport Athletic Club reformed and became the Keyport Fire Company, which soon became the Keyport Engine Co. (several member of the Keyport Engine Co. would organize the Keyport First Aid Squad in 1927). The water works were built in 1893 and water flowed through the mains several months later.  In March 1893 American Hose Company No.1, which soon became the Lincoln Hose Co., was organized in Lockport. 

In April 1893 Raritan Hose Co. No. 2 was organized by the members of the Raritan Guard.  In June of the same year Liberty Hose Co. No. 3 was formed in Mechanicsville.  In 1907, the Brown's Point section organized Eagle Hose Co. No. 4, and in 1910 the Board of Fire Wardens (Fire Patrol), first formed in 1893, reorganized becoming their own company.