No Man's Land - The begining of the Manorville Fire Department

This story was written by MFD Member Honorary Chief and Ex. 1st Assistant Chief Vincent M. DeLettera

In the late 1800’s and early 1900’s, some towns in Suffolk county had already established Fire Departments and their boundaries had been well established, these towns were Riverhead, Eastport, East Moriches, Center Moriches, Mastic, Yaphank, and a large parcel of land Known as Camp Upton. All these areas were situated in the central eastern portion of Brookhaven Township, except for Riverhead which was located in the western central portion of Riverhead Township. Any area beyond these boundaries was considered “No Man’s Land.” Whenever a fire was reported in this unprotected area the fire district receiving the call would respond and take charge of the fire. There was usually a Forest Ranger who would show up and take charge, He would call out men who lived in the area to fight the fire, and these men were paid 25 cents an hour for their services, either by the State or the County. Thus, the title NO MAN’S LAND came into play in Manorville up until 1941.

           A story was told to me by Ex-Chief Edward Williams.  A group of teenagers, namely Edward Williams, Gus Formhals, Thomas Jamer, Philip Dittmeier, and several others, got a hold of an old Chrysler station wagon. They cut the back end of it open to form a pick-up body, and they loaded it with metal milk cans filled with water, rakes, brooms and other equipment to fight fires with. When a fire was spotted, they would race to it to put it out.  One night these teenagers were holding a meeting at Fehner’s Garage (located on the corners of Ryerson Avenue, Lane Road, and North Street) to talk about fire related subjects, when the elder men of the community heard about it, and being embarrassed by what the young boys were planning to do, they went down and bombarded them with rotten eggs It was at this time the elder men decided to form a fire department. Led by Dennis Tascar, John Pendzick, Iveson Becken, Felix Seneski, and Peter Biolsi, they went around town gathering signatures on an application to incorporate. They gathered 31 names.  These 31 men became known as the Charter Members they are Frank Tortora, John Pendzick, Fred Ruppert Jr. Andrew J. Waski, Walter Raynor, Ellsworth Schmidt, Dennis Tascar, Walter Schmidt, David Cozine, Martin Fehner, Roy C.Dye, A.S. Thomson, Frank L. Magnani, Paul  Guyder, Arthur Seaman, Henry E. Seamen, Fred Egert, Anton Liebert, Bernard Troski, Joseph Burnside, Alex Horton, Clarance Carter, Rocco Marini, Felix Seneski, Edwin Schmidt, John Danielowich, Joseph Morini, and Edward Egert. Not all these men actually became firemen only 25 out of the 31 did. The petition was filed on JUNE 13^th 1941, and the Manorville Fire Department Inc. was organized. The newly fire department coveted all the land that was not claimed by the neighboring fire districts approximately 64 square miles.                                                                                                                                               

                   The first meeting of the department was held at Tascar’s Garage, (now Crossroads Auto Body) located on Ryerson Avenue. The meeting was conducted by the five members appointed temporary as directors by the charter, they were Dennis Tascar, John Pendzick, Iveson Becken, Felix Seneski, and Peter Biolsi. Twenty-five of the original charter members who actually became firemen were also in attendance. The first order of business was to elect the officers of the department. Dennis Tascar was elected to serve as the first Chief’ a position he held for twelve years 1941-1954, He was followed by John Pendzick 1954-1956, then by Andrew Waski 1956-1958, Walter Plisko served next from 1958-1961, Frank Magnani from 1961 -1964. These early Chief’s had the tasks of forming department policy, acquiring equipment, writing by laws, etc. etc. and establishing our formal boundaries.

            The first pieces of equipment the department had were a 1921 Brockway truck which was loaned to Manorville for one dollar, with the stipulation it was to be returned to Center Moriches Fire Department when we were finished with it. It now is fully restored and is regarded as their antique truck. The other truck we had was an old Chrysler, an old Reo and a little later on the General which was bought from Riverhead Fire department. These trucks were housed at Tascar’s Garage.

                 At the time Manorville fire department was formed in 1941, Ridge fire department was also being formed and in 1946 Wading River fire department was formed; now the Northern boundaries were established. The first chiefs and                                                  

Directors in 1947 formed Manorville Fire District, all the equipment the Fire Department had was turned over to the District. The first Commissioners of the district were Dennis Tascar 1947-1949, Walter Raynor 1947-1948, Nicholas Plisko 1947-1957, John Pendzick 1947-1965, and John Seneski 1947-1968. The first meeting was held at South Manor School, their anticipated budget was approximately $1,000.00. In 1947 the district hired Havens and Pelletreau surveyors to survey and draw a map of the district which was filed with the town of Brookhaven and the County of Suffolk.

               In 1953 by resolution of the town board of Brookhaven the division line between Manorville and Ridge was finalized. In 1948 a petition to extend the boundary of Eastport was filed in the towns of Brookhaven and Southampton. 1n 1947 a resolution of the town board of Brookhaven extending the Mastic Fire District was resolved. Later in the 1980’s the eastern part of the district lying in Riverhead town was turned over to Riverhead Fire District, this portion was all the land east of Toppings Path. Once again in the 1980’s a portion of the south eastern part of the district was turned over to East Moriches Fire District. The boundary lines today were formed by these changes. We went from 64 square miles the second largest district in New York State, to approximately 59 square miles, still big enough. The reason for the later changes were because of the increase in population and housing developments the response time was just too much to truly be effective in saving life and property. The boundary description which follows is taken from a survey map drawn by Louis K. McLean consulting engineers in 1977                                                                                                                                            

  During the year 1952, changes were starting to take place in Manorville, the town was starting to grow. This meant changes had to start taking place in the Fire District. Commissioners Dennis Tascar and John Pendzick each had a piece of land on Freeman Avenue, now Silas Carter Road just south of Ryerson Ave. which, through their generosity was donated to Manorville Fire District for the purpose of a New Fire House. In September 1952 The Board of Commissioners issued serial bonds in the amount of $30,000.00 for its construction. In 1952 the district had a budget of $6,000.00   The same year the commissioners signed an agreement with William La Fon, to design a fire station and proceeded to have the station built. The new Firehouse was dedicated in September 1953.