Come to the Friendship Firehouse Festival and celebrate the Friendship Fire Company’s 250th year! Friendship was the first fire company in Alexandria. The Festival is Saturday, August 3, along the 100 block of South Alfred Street from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Learn about fire safety in the past and today. Explore Alexandria Fire Department equipment up close. There will be face painting, displays by community organizations, food and beverage sales, booths by the Alexandria Police Department and Sheriff’s Office, and music performances. Join in water play and please-touch artifact activities. Children will receive free toy Friendship firefighting helmets. The Friendship Veterans Fire Engine Association and the Office of Historic Alexandria present this family event.
Members of the Friendship Fire Company were volunteers motivated by their concern for safety and property. In 1903, they became the Friendship Veterans Fire Engine Association (FVFEA) and continue today as an organization supporting the community.
The Friendship Firehouse, at 107 South Alfred Street, is a City of Alexandria museum. The building dates from 1855 and features exhibits about the Friendship Fire Company and volunteer firefighting in Alexandria.
Fire poses a threat to prosperity. A prime example is Alexandria’s devastating fire in 1827. It started in the Green Furniture Company’s warehouse in an alley on Royal Street. It consumed 53 structures as well as the furniture factory.
Friendship’s early firefighting techniques were typical of the time. It was a community effort to prevent fires from spreading. In 1800, the City Council enacted a law that required every floor in all dwellings to have a leather bucket available to extinguish fires. Firefighters organized townspeople into double lines, called bucket brigades, to pass water from the water source to the fire. The first fire engines also depended on bucket brigades to fill the engine’s reservoir so water could be pumped onto flames through a nozzle. The firefighters pulled the apparatus from place to place and operated it by hand.
Friendship purchased its first fire engine in 1775 for 81 pounds. Over the years, the company acquired five engines, which were eventually sold to help acquire new equipment and cover expenses. However, they retained their hand-operated suction pumper manufactured in 1851 by John Rodgers in Baltimore. This piece is currently undergoing professional conservation treatment off-site but is expected to be returned later this year. The restoration is possible thanks to the generous contributions of the FVFEA, Alexandria Association, Historic Alexandria Foundation, and many individual donors.
Friendship’s 1858 hose-reel carriage is on view in the firehouse. Local craftsman and Company member Robert F. Prettyman made this stunning apparatus. It features gold-leaf decorative shields flanking each side of the reel, red wheels decorated with blue and gold striping, and a brass lantern. It was restored thanks to support from the FVFEA, Custom Fire Apparatus, Simpson Development Corp., Virginia Association of Museums Top 10 Endangered Artifact Program, the Historic Alexandria Foundation, Spring2Action Alexandria, and community donors.
Volunteer companies were involved in far more than fighting fires. The Friendship Firehouse Meeting Room features ceremonial artifacts such as parade hats, capes, and other regalia, and visitors can explore how Friendship played a larger role in the community. Fire companies were important fraternal organizations, providing members the opportunity for social exchange. They organized parades, picnics, and excursions to other cities and performed ceremonial duties for civic events. As early as 1839, Friendship marched in Alexandria’s annual George Washington birthday parade. Members also provided a support network. Upon the death of a fireman, even when not in the line of duty, his company would participate in the funeral and assist in looking after his family.
Today’s FVFEA assists in preserving the historic firehouse, supports the Alexandria Fire Department, and provides scholarships and other benevolent and philanthropic services to the Alexandria community. They are planning special programs to mark the organization’s 250th anniversary. Save the date for a muster of antique firefighting apparatuses scheduled for September 14 and a symposium on fire-related topics on September 15. Look for information soon at Alexandriava.gov/Historic.
