WILTON — The tattered, former fire station in East Wilton comes down Tuesday but the memories it has created continue for firefighters.

There was a time when just about every able-bodied man in East Wilton served the department, Raymond Macomber said. They included youths in a junior fire department.

When the whistle blew, everyone came running, he said.

Macomber, 82, served as chief of the department before 1963. He was a member for 30 years but when he turned 56 he decided to “let the younger boys climb ladders and get soaked.”

In those earlier days, there wasn’t too much equipment but the department did have a Model A with a tank to hold a few gallons and about five sections of hose, he said.

After the department sign was removed Sunday, several former members, including four former chiefs, gathered outside the building, sharing tales and memories. State Rep. Russell Black, R-Wilton, thanked the men for their service. The sign will be offered to the Wilton Historical Society, he said. The chiefs included Macomber, Howard Bickford, Noel Brown and Lew Yeaton.

A crew from the public works department will tear the station down Tuesday. The work is expected to one or two days, Wilton Town Manager Rhonda Irish said.

The Fire Department was decommissioned in 1991. State regulations on fire departments were getting tougher and no one else wanted to take over as chief. Three members transferred to the Wilton department. Since then, the building has been used for storage.

The building, a former horse stable then garage, was attached to Pease Store across the street. Groceries and hardware were sold. It was the only store in town, Macomber said. The Lockhead family donated the garage, which was jacked up and put on rollers to tow across what was then Route 2, during the 1940s. Initially, machinery was stored in the building while Arrowwood built a mill at the site of the Forster plant in East Wilton.

Once the machinery was moved, the Fire Department raised funds to put in a cement floor and changed the one garage door into two, he said.

The Bishop family donated the property. A flagpole and monument on site remembers a family member who became the caretaker of the building. The property is named the William Bishop Memorial Park.

The Fire Department raised funds holding raffles and public suppers for the department and improvements on the grounds. Children’s playground equipment and the flagpole were installed and trees planted.  A women’s auxiliary also held suppers a couple times a year. A meeting room complete with kitchen on the second floor was often rented for showers and other events, Black said.

There were a lot of good times, the men said.

The Fire Department of about 30-35 members met once a month and a good game of poker and beverages were usually enjoyed after the meeting, they said.

It wasn’t always fun. Members remembered hard times, too, including a fatal fire at a property behind the station.

Scott Blodgett and Fred Pease remembered one particular fire on Route 133 in the 1980s. They arrived with the tanker and thought someone was in the home. They went in without proper equipment and found not people but a dog, they said.

Then there was the time the firetruck was stolen. A local young man went in to the station and took the truck out on a joy ride to Wilton. He was only able to open the garage door half way and drove right through. He caused a lot of damage, former Chief Noel Brown said.

Membership was often a family affair with sons following their fathers into the department. The department used to burn grass for people. Teens became involved carrying Indian tanks to keep the burn safe, explained Terry Brann who followed his father as did Lew Yeaton, David Macomber and others.

Many members also remembered the skating rinks that the department maintained for area children each year on the property.

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