Bath Fire Department

Fire Chief: Art Hosford
5633 Drumheller Rd.
Bath, MI 48808

Bath Township Fire Department History

The Bath Township Board approved the beginning of the Volunteer Fire Department on July 30, 1929. The Firemen were dispatched by the telephone switchboard operator. The operator would open all lines and would signal a long continuous ring, known as the “WILD RING”. Then the telephone operator would relay the Fire information to the listening Volunteer Firefighters and then they would grab their “Fire Buckets” and respond to the fire location. The Firefighters would go to the nearest water source to the fire and form a bucket brigade back to the fire, to put it out.

At the Township Board meeting of June 30, 1941 the Township Board approved the appointment of firemen to be the first organized Volunteer Fire Department of Bath Township. The appointments are as follows, they had two Fire Chiefs: Howard Wilkins and Harrison Ewing, two Assistant Chiefs: Don Ewing and Leonard Hiatt, along with Firefighters: Rollie Woodman, Howard Cushman, Willard Cable, Lyle Brook, Jack Rounds, Harry Dolton, Dean Sweet, Chester McGonagal, Charles White, Fred Trumble, E.E. Benson, Loren Van Ostran, and James Northey.

The first Fire Truck was an International truck chassis with four small tanks that had two hoses hooked to each tank along with acid bottles in the tops of the tanks,” it worked on the same principal as the old soda-acid fire extinguishers. You broke the acid bottle in to the tank and that would create foam and pressure to the fire hoses. The fire fighter that got the job of breaking the bottles into the tank would often get holes in their clothes from drops of spilled acid, it wasn’t the best system, but the Fire Department did manage to put out some fires.

Around 1945 the township purchased a 1945 Ford with 500 gallon water tank an a John Bean high pressure pump that could produce 600 p.s.i. at the nozzle. The Bath Township Fire Department still owns this truck and uses it for special occasions and parades

 

Bath Township Fire Department as of today

 

Bath Township Fire Department moved into the new station located at 5633 Drumheller Road, in 2001. The station is 9,987 sq ft. It is a fully sprinkled building and houses ten pieces of equipment, one command car, two rescues, three engines, one water tanker, one light & air, two brush trucks, one boat, and a trailer. The department has a full time chief and can host a roster of thirty paid on call firefighters.

 

Bath Township Firefighters

Officers
Badge No.	Title	Name
601	Chief	Art Hosford
602	Deputy Chief	Dave Snider
603	Assistant Chief	Doug Patrick
604	Captain	Mitch Hosford
605	Lieutenant	Don Fuller

Firefighters
Badge No.	Name	Badge No.	Name
607	Rick Taylor	619	E.J. Hosford
608	Rich Paul	620	Jed Asher
609	Randy Hosford	621	Matt Kidd
610	Kristin Buchin	622	Jake Dase
611	Bill Edwards	623	Jay Green
614	Eric Dugan	624	Justin Foreback
616	Larry Dalimonte	625	Gary Roll
617	Pat Zeeb	626	Milt Sivak
618	Andy Haid

Fire Department Equipment

Vehicle	Year / Make / Model	Vehicle	Year / Make / Model
Command car 600	1999 Ford Expedition	Engine 65	2005 Pierce Enforcer
Rescue 61	1997 Ford E450	Light&Air 66	1975 Ford F250
Rescue 62	1985 Ford F350	Tanker 67	1980 Ford 800
Engine 63	1988 Pierce Dash	ORV 68	1985 Jeep CJ7
Engine 64	2004 Pierce Dash	ORV 69	1985 Chevy Pickup