Old Flames

Infrastructure. The word doesn’t evoke the same warm community emotion as planting trees, landscaping neighborhoods, building schools, establishing service clubs or putting the spires on churches. But the basic infrastructures of fire service, police protection, water, sewer, and transportation design is critical to basic livability and functionality of a community. The story is told that fire protection was on the mind of James S. Simmons when he developed Windermere in 1926 and thus he built a water tower in the neighborhood so that water with pressure would be available in case of fire.
When the Exchange Club of St. Andrew’s Parish celebrated progress in 1943 three pictures illustrating the completion of the water supply system to St. Andrew’s Parish were shown, three sentences discussed bus service and the only other mention of infrastructure in the brochure were these three sentences: “During 1941, the need for fire protection within the Parish was keenly felt. The public-spirited citizens of the Parish and James Island, led by Exchangites Francis Hanckel and Howard Lamar, undertook a project to collect sufficient funds by public subscription to purchase equipment necessary to establish a fire department. This equipment was put into operation the latter part of 1941.”
In this same brochure there were 16 residential developments listed in the Parish. Infrastructure, especially fire protection, was going to continue to be in the forefront of the community leaders’ minds as the Parish’s population grew. The development of a volunteer fire department, purchase of fire equipment, construction of a fire station, and installation of fire hydrants were projects that came into fruition from 1941 to 1944.
St. Andrew’s Parish’s first Fire Station was located at the junction of the Folly Beach Highway and Highway 17 near Windermere. The Dawson Engineering Co. was awarded the contract ($12,700) to construct this building in October 1944.  The Fire Department at this time had three full time positions: Chief, Assistant Chief and Engineer and 16 volunteers. They were selected by the “district commission”, served at its pleasure and were paid $2,200 annually. Volunteers were chosen from applications, these positions were filled when vacancies arose, and they received a small compensation based on attendance at drills, response to fire alarms and such.
In the January 8, 1949 edition of The News & Courier a quite lengthy article appeared, which was the fourth of an installment in a report, about the greater metropolitan area of Charleston. Much of this article discussed infrastructure including details about the St. Andrew’s Fire and Water District. Water service in St. Andrew’s Fire and Water District was financed by a charge against the water users. Fire Protection was financed by a property tax. In 1947 there was an eleven-mill levy for general fire protection and a two-mill levy for bond retirement, which included the $24,000 for the building of the fire station and the purchase of 5 pieces of equipment in 1943. In addition, the department had a 450-gallon booster tank since some areas of the Parish were without a public water supply.
R.F. Platt was the first Chief of the St. Andrew’s Parish Fire Station, Elmo Dozier was second, and Philip Luther Bootle was the third, serving from 1954 until his death in 1956.
Chief Bootle left quite an impact on the St. Andrew’s Parish firefighting community. A commemorative plaque describes him as a “Leader-Counselor-Friend” and was “Presented by Volunteer Firemen and Members of St Andrew’s Fire Department September 1957.” Even today Chief Bootle’s name will stir memories and stories of the “good old days” in St. Andrew’s Parish Fire Department.
Gerald Mishoe’s father Julian Grant (JG) Mishoe was Chief from March of 1964 to July of 1973. Chief Mishoe had served as the Captain of the Conway Fire Department prior to being appointed Chief of the St. Andrew’s Parish Fire Department. As a boy, Gerald would hang around the Station #2, built in 1957 at the corner of Highway 7 and Highway 61. Later when he followed in his father’s firefighting footsteps, he served from this station. Any unexplained activity at the station was attributed to the late Chief Bootle checking in to make sure the guys were okay and doing their jobs. Mishoe recounted that Chief Bootle’s wife bestowed the honor of the gift of Chief Bootle’s badge on his father and he cherished that badge and that honor his entire life.
 
Firefighting stories or memories? Contact Donna at westashleybook@gmail.com.