nd ladder trucks ruptured the Municipal Building’s floor. For five years, the equipment was housed in Briarcliff and Ossining garages until late 1963, when the new firehouse and municipal offices building was completed. Also in the 1950s, additional sirens were installed for firemen outside of the central siren’s range, both on Schrade and at the intersection of Long Hill and Scarborough roads, replacing a siren at Scarborough Presbyterian.[8]

In 1971, Briarcliff's government tried to charge Archville $200 per year ($1,200 per year today[9]) for the four existing hydrants and water supply in the hamlet, which Archville objected to. Briarcliff Manor contacted the State Controller, who instructed the village that Briarcliff Manor’s existing arrangement was not in accordance with any state law. Archville’s fire protection district refused to lease the station and equipment from Briarcliff, and thus the Briarcliff Board of Trustees terminated the Scarborough Fire Company’s membership in the Briarcliff Manor Fire Department and severed its protection responsibility over Archville. In September 1972, the Briarcliff Manor Board of Trustees formed the Scarborough Engine Company, purchased a new Mack truck, and built a new Scarborough firehouse.[8]

A two-story brick firehouse
Primary station at the Briarcliff Manor Village Hall
A one-bay firehouse with a white firetruck exiting
Scarborough Engine Company station, stood 1974 to 2009
1976 was the department’s 75th anniversary, and its celebrations included a parade from Willow Drive to the firehouse with 650 firemen from fourteen companies, women’s auxiliaries, and 500 members from thirteen bands all marching. In 1978, a new ambulance was purchased at $32,750 ($118,400 today[9]); a Yankee body on a Ford truck chassis, with an oxygen system, suction system, and a pulse tachometer. The old ambulance was kept as an auxiliary. A year later, the village purchased a new $160,000 ($519,900 today[9]) ladder truck, delivered in 1983 and replacing the 1936 truck.[8]

One of the most notable fires in the village happened at about 10 pm on January 22, 1982, in the downtown. The fire began in the basement of Briarcliff Stationers and destroyed the Briarcliff Country Store, Briar Rose, and the Shoe Bazaar. More than a hundred Briarcliff Manor and Pleasantville firefighters assisted to control the fire, which continued to burn at heights of 30–40 feet at midnight, but was under control by 1:30 am. During the 1980-81 Iran hostage crisis, the fire whistle was blown sixty-six times, once for each released hostage. A year later, in 1982, the first Briarcliff Manor fire with active female volunteers was fought, with Debra Ann Conacchio and Rachel Higgins serving as firefighters in the department.[8]

In 1996, the department ordered a rescue truck for $194,448 ($292,400 today[9]) from 3-D Manufa

d the Shoe Bazaar. More than a hundred Briarcliff Manor and Pleasantville firefighters assisted to control the fire, which continued to burn at heights of 30–40 feet at midnight, but was under control by 1:30 am. During the 1980-81 Iran hostage crisis, the fire whistle was blown sixty-six times, once for each released hostage. A year later, in 1982, the first Briarcliff Manor fire with active female volunteers was fought, with Debra Ann Conacchio and Rachel Higgins serving as firefighters in the department.[8]

In 1996, the department ordered a rescue truck for $194,448 ($292,400 today[9]) from 3-D Manufacturing, and a Pierce pumper truck was purchased at $312,777 ($470,300 today[9]) for Scarborough to replace their corroding 1974 Mack truck. A year later, the department hosted the Westchester County Volunteer Firemen Association Convention, the usual parade with 43 departments, a golf outing, and the annual meeting and dinner of the Association.[8]

Alarm receiving and transmittal[edit]
The central siren is located at the Briarcliff Manor Village Hall. Since the 1950s, additional sirens have been located on Schrade Road and at the intersection of Long Hill and Scarborough roads. Firemen also are issued small radio receivers to send a signal of a fire’s location and which trucks should be sent. Company officers additionally have two-way radios.[8]

Apparatus[edit]
The Barry Docks are a port facility in the town of Barry, Vale of Glamorgan, Wales, a few kilometres southwest of Cardiff on the north shore of the Bristol Channel. They were opened in 1889 by David Davies and John Cory as an alternative to the congested and expensive Cardiff Docks to ship coal carried by rail from the South Wales Coalfield. The lead engineer was John Wolfe Barry, assisted by Thomas Forster Brown and Henry Marc Brunel, son of the famous engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel.

The docks occupy the former sound between Barry Island and the mainland. The contractors built dams to connect each end of the island to the mainland, drained or pumped the water from the site and excavated it. They used the material to level the area round the docks and for the core of breakwaters to protect the entrance. The works included a basin with gates at each end which served as a lock between the sea entrance and the docks, the dock walls and quays, coal loading equipment and railways to deliver coal from the mines to the docks. A second dock and second entrance lock were added in 1898. Barry Dock Offices was built in 1897-1900 by the architect Arthur E. Bell.

red farmer of Barry island, proposed a Glamorgan Coast Railroad to link Pencoed, Llansannor, Cowbridge and Aberthaw with Barry, and a further line to Cogan, where the Penarth Dock and the Grangetown line was already under construction to Cardiff.[10] Thomas proposed building a dock accessed by the railway for export of coal, iron and limestone, and import of hay, grain and vegetables for the mining districts. The idea was also attractive to railway developers of the period. The Ogmore Valley Railway Company wanted to increase revenue by carrying coal for shipment to the docks at Cardiff and Penarth. H. Voss, the engineer of the Ely Valley Railway Company and the Great Western Railway, also saw its commercial potential, and made a proposal to Jenner of Wenvoe Castle to build a dock at Barry, the largest in the district, which would be connected by rail to Peterston-super-Ely on the main South Wales line.[10]


The docks in Barry today
Jenner succeeded in being granted permission to extend the railway through a series of acts in 1866, including the Barry Railway Alteration Act and the Barry Railway Extension Act which authorised the building of a narrow-gauge line from Barry to Cogan, joining the line to Cardiff. The third act, the 1866 Barry Harbour Act, authorised another company to build a 600 yards (550 m) quay extending from where Buttrills brook now enters the old dock to near the northwest end of the present dock. The act granted the permission of the deepening of the Cadoxton River, which enters the sea at Cold Knap, to allow for large ships to reach the quay, and the Barry Railway Company and the Barry Harbour Company were established. However, the plan was never realised. Jenner's made another attempt in 1868. It failed because he did not attract support from the coal traders, who preferred to operate in Cardiff.[11]

Jenner dropped the idea after the Bute Dock Act of 1874 allowed an additional dock at Cardiff, but the movement to build a dock at Barry continued to gain momentum, this time by the Plymouth Estate trustees, major landowners in Glamorgan who advocated the building of the railway from Barry to Cogan. They proposed the Penarth, Sully and Cadaxton Railway Bill, which was approved by Parliament as the Penarth Extension Railway Act in 1876. They extended the line privately, opening it on 20 February 1878.[12]


David Davies
Construction[edit]
Project launch[edit]