Howard Lake Herald, August 10, 1998

HL Fire Department has long history By Michael Mitchell The Howard Lake Fire Department is one of the oldest organizations in Howard Lake. The first available records of the organized department date back to the summer of l 896. It was organized with 25 members and consisted of a Horse Company and a Ladder Company. A committee on fire apparatus was formed and reported as follows on the cost of items constituting a good fire outfit: 8-man pump, $36.00; 150 ft hose, $31.50; one nozzle, $1.50; one tank hose, $32.00; one tank, $20.00, one pony pump, $10.00, and 100-ft inch hose' $11.50. Report was adopted. It was the duty of the village Marshall to see after the engine house and all fire apparatus and to keep one tank of water on the wagon ready for use year round. Buckets were to be provided so that the tanks could be filled as fast as the pump demanded The first motorized pumper was a 1926 Model T Ford, which is still running and has been entered in numerous parades. The Model T was used until 1941.** Information taken from the Howard Lake Centennial Book, published in 1978.

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