Ocean City Volunteer Fire Department
civic · founded 1903
Organised in February 1903 with a chief, an assistant chief, two foremen, two assistant foremen, a marshal and assistant, and a full slate of officers — president John W. Quillen, vice-president R. C. Quillen, secretary Harvey Trader, treasurer H. B. Purnell — under Chief Harry C. Ludlam. The founding roster of twenty-eight named men, printed in the county paper, includes Daniel Trimper, Jr. It is the first organised fire company at Ocean City in this project's record, two years after an arson fire took the beachfront block between South Division and Worcester streets.
In the record (58)
1903 · 1903-02-21
Ocean City organises a volunteer fire department — the town's first — and the county paper prints the whole roster, Harry C. Ludlam chief.
Democratic Messenger, 21 February 1903, under the head "Ocean City Firemen": "A volunteer fire department has been organized at Ocean City, with the following members: Chief, Harry C. Ludlam; assistant, Chas. Mayo; foremen, Samuel S. Ludlam and A. J. Wyatt; assistants, L. Bunting and Henry B. Purnell; marshall, Thomas Cropper; assistant, Cyrus Purnell; president, John W. Quillen; vice president, R. C. Quillen; secretary, Harvey Trader; treasurer, H. B. Purnell; Lem Wyatt, R. C. Moore, John L. Quillen, Jesse Truitt, Jr., Claud Richards, Ed Hastings, Thomas Moore, John Cropper, Riley Quillen, John Purnell, Ezra Bunting, S. J. Johnson, Thomas Purnell, Daniel Trimper, Jr., Ralph Dennis, C. R. Bunting, Henry [...]" — the list runs off the column. The town had had a beachfront arson fire two years earlier and no organised way to fight it [fact:1901-boardwalk-bathhouse-fire]; twenty-two years later the 1925 fire would show what a wooden resort still had to lose.
Twenty-eight named men, one of them a Trimper, and a roster that reads like the 1903 town directory.
Source · checked 2026-08-06
1905 · 1905-07-29
A Washington summer visitor, David Moore, organises a 32-man volunteer fire brigade at Ocean City with uniforms, a small engine and three stations along the boardwalk — the event behind the modern "1905" founding date.
"A volunteer fire brigade has been organized at Ocean City by Mr. David Moore, of Washington, now staying at the Atlantic Hotel. Mr. Moore has been elected chief. Mr. Moore says he will establish three stations along the boardwalk. Last Wednesday the company, which has 32 enrolled volunteers, gave its first drill in their new uniforms and with the small engine which has recently been purchased. Last week a small fire on the lower boardwalk was effectively extinguished by the brigade with buckets." Ocean City had already organised a volunteer fire department in February 1903 under Chief Harry C. Ludlam; the 1905 brigade is a re-founding on a larger and better-equipped footing, and is very probably the origin of the widely repeated 1905 date for the Ocean City Volunteer Fire Company.
Modern accounts date the Ocean City fire company to 1905. The 1903 pass found it organised in February 1903. Both are right about something: 1903 is when it was formed, 1905 is when it got uniforms, an engine, three stations and a fire it actually put out.
Source · checked 2026-08-06
1919
Ocean City's school outgrows its new building and rents a room in the Municipal Building — and gives the rent to the fire department.
The Messenger of 8 March 1919: the school "made a proposal to rent the room in the Municipal Building for the remainder of the school season. The Mayor and Council accepted the proposition, and the sum received for the rental of the room will be devoted to the use of the Fire Department. The room will be fitted up for occupancy by the girl pupils of the Sixth grade, with Mrs. Elmer A. Tucker, the teacher. The room will be in readiness by next Monday, March 10th." The state school building the county Democrats demanded in 1913 and the legislature funded by Chapter 227 of 1914 had been standing barely two years, and the town was already renting overflow space from itself.
Source · checked 2026-08-06
1922
Ocean City's town correspondent takes his hat off to the fire company in May 1922 — somebody is paid to sound the instrument at 7.15 every Monday evening to call the firemen to their weekly meeting, and to keep it in working order.
From the Ocean City column in the Democratic Messenger of 20 May 1922, in the same paragraph run as the jetty report: an arrangement to sound the alarm "every Monday evening at 7.15 o'clock, to summon the firemen to the weekly meetings, and to keep the instrument in working order. Hats off, all the time, to our brave, efficient fire fighters." Three years before the fire of 1925 burned four blocks of the boardwalk, the town's volunteer company was meeting weekly and its alarm was being maintained under contract.
Unverified — sourced but not confirmed against a primary record.
Source · checked 2026-08-06
1923 · 1923-02-14
The Ocean City Firemen's Association holds its annual chicken pot pie dinner, and the paper prints its whole slate of officers.
Worcester Democrat, 17 February 1923, 'Ocean City Holds Annual Fire Association Banquet': "The Firemen's Association[,] one of the most important as well as one of the most active and efficient organizations of Ocean City, held its annual Chicken Pot Pie Dinner at the Fire House on Wednesday evening of this week… the social element was greatly enhanced because the wives and sweethearts of the valiant firemen were present. Speeches were made by the officers, led by Ralph Dennis, lieutenant; Clifford Cropper, president; Charles Cropper, chief; and Frank Truitt, secretary." Three weeks earlier the company had elected four boys — George Baaker, James Jester, Stacy Ludlam and Daniel Trimper, Jr. — as "runners," "to assist the firemen in case of fire in the way of alarms and the carrying of needed articles from the fire house."
Seven months before the Mount Pleasant burned, the town's fire company was a dinner club with four teenage messengers. It was also, that night, enough.
Clifford P. CropperDaniel W. Trimper, Jr.
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1923 · 1923-09-28
The Mount Pleasant Hotel burns on 28 September with a $25,000 loss, and five fire companies keep the flames off the boardwalk.
The Washington Daily News of 29 September 1923: "OCEAN CITY HOTEL BURNS — OCEAN CITY, Md. — Fire wrecked the Mt. Pleasant hotel yesterday. Loss was $25,000." The Washington Times of 1 October, under "OCEAN CITY, MD, HOTEL BURNS; RESORT IN DANGER": "Flames that destroyed the Mount Pleasant Hotel here threatened to sweep the boardwalk. The quick arrival of the Berlin fire department that aided the volunteer company of the resort in getting the blaze under control, proved to be the great factor in the stopping of the conflagration. Apparatus from Salisbury and Pocomoke City reached the scene shortly after the Berlin company, and immediately there began to play upon the burning structure streams of water from all sides." Two weeks later the Worcester Democrat printed a card of thanks from Mr. and Mrs. T. B. Mason and family "to the fire companies of Ocean City, Pocomoke City, Salisbury, Snow Hill and Berlin for their heroic efforts in extinguishing the fire at the Mt. Pleasant Hotel, Ocean City." The Mount Pleasant had advertised in Washington all summer — "Ocean front. Hot and cold running water. Excellent table. S. M. Mason."
Twenty-one months before the fire of 1925 took the pier and four blocks of boardwalk, Ocean City had its rehearsal — one hotel, five fire companies, and the flames stopping at the boards.
Ocean City BoardwalkMrs. S. M. Mason
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1924
The Maryland State Firemen's Association picks Ocean City as its 1925 convention city.
Reported from the association's June convention, at which twenty-five companies and 1,500 men paraded with twenty-five pieces of apparatus: 'Ocean City, Md., was selected as the convention city for 1925.' A town with one volunteer company — which in 1924 needed help from Pocomoke, Berlin, Snow Hill and Salisbury twice in six months — had booked the whole state's firemen for the following summer.
Source · checked 2026-08-06
1924 · 1924-05-17
Fire 'believed to have been of incendiary origin' destroys the Hotel Frisch and for a time threatens the southern end of the town.
Evening Star, 18 May 1924, from Salisbury: 'Fire believed to have been of incendiary origin early today destroyed the Hotel Frisch at Ocean City, Md., and for a time threatened the southern end of the seashore resort. Fire companies from four eastern towns, Pocomoke, Berlin, Snow Hill and Salisbury, were called to the assistance of the beach resort.' Eight months after the Mount Pleasant fire brought five companies to the boardwalk, four came again. A week before the fire the county paper had printed the transfer of the 'Congress Hall Property' in Ocean City from Benjamin Frisch and wife to Paul B. and Irma B. Codd and Leander P. and Reathia I. Gentle — so Frisch had sold his other Ocean City property days before his hotel burned. No arrest is reported anywhere in the year's corpus.
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1924 · 1924-11-02
A coal-oil stove explodes in Samuel M. Quillen's cottage on a Sunday afternoon in November and takes four buildings with it, including a Coast Guard captain's house.
Worcester Democrat, 8 November 1924, under 'Pocomoke Fire Company Goes To Aid Of Ocean City': 'Ocean City was visited by a rather disastrous fire Sunday afternoon when it is supposed a coal oil stove exploded in the cottage owned and occupied by Samuel M. Quillen. This building was devoured by flames and two cottages said to belong to Guy R. Ayres, and also the home of Captain Henry E. Richardson of the North Coast Guard, were wrecked. The Pocomoke Fire Department responded to the call…' Capt. Henry Richardson of the North Beach station had been laid up with influenza in February 1923; in November 1924 his house burned. The town's second serious fire of the year, and the second time in six months a mainland company drove to the beach.
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1925 · 1925-06-10
The Maryland State Firemen's Association held its annual convention at Ocean City on 10–12 June 1925, with a parade, a band contest and delegations from across the state.
The Montgomery County Sentinel of 8 May 1925 records Rockville's delegates "to the annual meeting of the Maryland State Firemen's Association at Ocean City on June 10, 11 and 12" — Joseph W. Howes, chief, and Wm. F. Disney, engineer, with two alternates. The Worcester Democrat of 28 March notes Princess Anne naming five delegates and five alternates and selling "mahogany finish seven foot bridge lamps, valued at $25.00 each in order to defray the expenses of the delegates." The Midland Journal reported afterward, on 19 June, that the "Elkton Fire Company Band in contest with ten other organizations, won first prize at the Firemen's Convention held in Ocean City, last week," and that "The Maryland State Firemen's Association, in convention at Ocean City last week, voted to accept the invitation to meet in Westminster, Md., next year." Elkton's own department had instructed its representatives to bid for the 1926 convention and lost.
Every fire company in Maryland came to Ocean City in June. In December Ocean City had to telephone six of them for help.
Maryland State Firemen's Association
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1925 · 1925-12-29
The Great Fire: on Tuesday 29 December 1925 three blocks of ocean-front Ocean City burned, taking the Atlantic Hotel, the Seaside, the Pier, the Casino, Dolle's and the power plant.
The Worcester Democrat and the Ledger-Enterprise of 2 January 1926 ran it across page one: "FIRE DESTROYS TWO HOTELS, THE PIER, AND SEVERAL OTHER BUILDINGS AT OCEAN CITY — Conflagration Of Tuesday Last Sweeps Heart Of State's Summer Resort — POCOMOKE FIRE COMPANY HELPS FIGHT BIG BLAZE." "A disastrous fire visited Maryland's only seaside resort, Ocean City, last Tuesday, laying waste property valued at between $300,000 and $400,000. The buildings destroyed were the Power plant, Seaside Hotel, Atlantic Hotel, the Pier, the Casino, the building containing the flying horses, and the candy-making establishment adjoining." The Milford Chronicle of 1 January 1926 headlined it "DISASTROUS FIRE SWEEPS HOTEL AREA AT OCEAN CITY, MD. … RESORT IN DARKNESS" and reported that "Three blocks of ocean-front property at Ocean City, Maryland, were destroyed on Tuesday by a [fire] which, aided by a thirty-five-mile wind, raged for two hours"; that the blaze spread from the power plant to the Seaside Hotel adjoining, "then leaped Baltimore avenue to the Atlantic Hotel, spreading over that entire square," next to Dolle's Candy Shop, "then leaped to the Casino Building, where several amusement devices are located, across the boardwalk to the pier"; and that "The boardwalk was burned for the entire distance of three blocks." Firemen stopped it at Wall's Hotel, just south of the pier. The Associated Press had the story running the same day: the Washington Evening Star of 29 December 1925, page one — "BLAZE IS SWEEPING MARYLAND RESORT — Ocean City Isolated—Two Hotels and Several Homes Appear Doomed" — datelined Baltimore, 29 December: "A section of Ocean City, Md., including two hotels and several residence blocks, appeared doomed by fire at noon today."
Fifty years and six months after the Atlantic Hotel opened, the building Ocean City was built around burned down in an afternoon, and took the pier and three blocks of boardwalk with it.
Atlantic HotelOcean City BoardwalkEastern Shore Gas and Electric CompanyDr. Charles Washington PurnellMrs. Harry Gunby
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1925 · 1925-12-29
"Ocean City's fire fighting department when called to the rescue was found to be in such a condition as to make it practically useless" — six months after the town hosted the Maryland State Firemen's convention.
Worcester Democrat, 2 January 1926: "Ocean City's fire fighting department when called to the rescue was found to be in such a condition as to make it practically useless. Aid was summoned from nearby towns—Pocomoke City, Salisbury, Princess Anne, Berlin, Snow Hill, and Laurel, Del., and these were instrumental in preventing a much larger spread of flames. Holes had to be cut in the ice of the Bay to secure water, and the amount of hose necessary from the bridge to the burning buildings made it impossible to throw more than one stream from the fire trucks; but so effective was the fighting, that possibly the whole line of buildings from the Casino down were saved from destruction. Pocomoke City received her S. O. S. call between noon and one o'clock, and it was not long before the boys were on the way. The severely cold weather made the trip a veritable punishment, but the boys stuck to their truck and did valliant service after arrival." The Milford Chronicle counted six outside companies and added: "Frozen fire plugs hampered the efforts of firemen, and it was necessary to pump water direct from Sinepuxent Bay." Fearing the whole resort was doomed, "buildings for some distance from the danger zone were stripped of furniture, which was piled along the streets and on vacant lots."
In June the Maryland State Firemen's Association paraded through Ocean City; in December the town's own apparatus would not work and the hydrants were frozen, and six companies from three counties and Delaware had to cut holes in the bay ice.
Maryland State Firemen's Association
Source · checked 2026-08-06
1926 · 1926-01-02
The first newspapers of 1926 count the cost of the fire that burned three blocks of Ocean City on 29 December 1925.
The fire itself belongs to 1925, but every published account of it is dated 1926, because both surviving papers are weeklies. Milford Chronicle, 1 January 1926, 'DISASTROUS FIRE SWEEPS HOTEL AREA AT OCEAN CITY, MD. — The Atlantic And Seaside Hotels Burned Along With Other Buildings. RESORT IN DARKNESS. Electric And Water Plant, Where Blaze Originated, A Complete Loss': 'Three blocks of ocean-front property at Ocean City, Maryland, were destroyed on Tuesday by a [fire] which, aided by a thirty-five-mile wind, raged for two hours and caused damage estimated at $350,000... Practically none of the property was covered by insurance, the average insurance being about twenty per cent of the loss.' The itemised losses: Atlantic Hotel of 200 rooms, $100,000; electric power plant, $100,000; Ocean City pier, $50,000; the Casino Building, $40,000; Dolle's Candy Shop, $15,000; Seaside Hotel of 65 rooms, $35,000; cottage of C. W. Purnell, $6,000. It began in the engine room of the power plant, spread to the Seaside, leapt Baltimore Avenue to the Atlantic, took Dolle's, then the Casino, then crossed the boardwalk to the pier, and was checked at the Walls Hotel. 'The boardwalk was burned for the entire distance of three blocks.' Frozen fire plugs forced the firemen to pump straight out of Sinepuxent Bay. Six companies came — Salisbury, Berlin, Pocomoke City, Princess Anne, Laurel and Snow Hill. The Worcester Democrat of 2 January puts the loss at '$300,000 or more' against no more than $50,000 of insurance; a Baltimore correspondent quoted in the same paper on 16 January said 'nearly $800,000'.
Eastern Shore Gas and Electric Company
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1927
The Ocean City (Md.) Fire Company turns out for the Selbyville firemen's parade — eighteen months after the county paper called it practically useless.
In the Selbyville, Delaware, firemen's carnival parade of July 1927 — "the best ever held in Selbyville" — the line ran: the Laurel Band, then Selbyville Fire Company, Georgetown Fire Company, Harrington Fire Company, Berlin (Md.) Fire Company, Seaford No. 2 Fire Company, Ocean City (Md.) Fire Company, Millsboro Fire Company, Hartly Fire Company, Rehoboth Beach Fire Company and Carlisle Fire Company of Milford.
It is one line in a parade order, and it is the only thing the 519-page 1927 corpus says about Ocean City's fire department. It says the company existed, was organised enough to travel to another state in uniform, and was recognised by its neighbours — the six companies that had come to save the town in December 1925 are half this parade. What it does not say is whether the apparatus was any better.
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1928 · 1928-07-13
Ocean City's volunteer firemen take Best Appearance at the Selbyville parade in July, and march in the Washington firemen's parade in September.
Milford Chronicle, 13 July 1928, on the Selbyville Fire Company's carnival parade: "The line-up was as follows: Selbyville, Ocean City, Md., Georgetown, Harrington, Millsboro, Milford No. 1, Willards, Md., Seaford, S. V. F. D. No. 2. The prize winners were arranged in the following order: Best appearance, Ocean City. Most men, Willards. Greatest distance, Harrington. Best band, Milford. Silver cups were awarded [as] prizes." Seven weeks later, on 1 September, Ocean City was among the thirty-odd Maryland companies parading in Washington under the officers of the Maryland State Volunteer Firemen's Association, in a section with seven bands and three drum corps, between the Maryland delegation and the Marine Band.
In 1923 the county paper called the Ocean City fire department "practically useless." Two and a half years after the fire that burned three blocks of the ocean front while six out-of-town companies pumped out of the bay, the town's own company is winning silver cups for turnout and parading in the national capital. Turnout is not firefighting — but it is the first good news this thread has had.
Maryland State Firemen's Association
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1929
Chapter 145 puts a penny on every hundred dollars of Worcester County property and gives three-quarters of it, in equal shares, to the fire companies of Ocean City, Berlin, Snow Hill, Stockton and Pocomoke City.
Approved 11 April 1929, effective 1 June 1929. The County Commissioners were 'authorized, empowered and directed' to levy annually, with the regular county levy, a special tax of one cent on each hundred dollars of assessable property. Three-fourths of the proceeds went in equal shares to the incorporated volunteer fire companies of the five towns, paid by the first day of February following the levy; the remaining quarter was to be spent at the Commissioners' discretion on any company organising and incorporating after 1 March 1929, with any unexpended balance at the fiscal year's end divided equally among all the county's incorporated companies.
This is the first standing public money the campaign has found for the Ocean City fire company in the twenty-six years since it organised — and it arrives five months before the company had to save the Atlantic Hotel. The town's fire protection had been called 'practically useless' in this decade; in 1929 the county began taxing itself for it.
County Commissioners of Worcester County
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1929
Fire runs a block and a half of the board walk on the night after Labor Day and stops at the wall of the Atlantic Hotel.
Shortly after midnight on Tuesday 3 September 1929 fire broke out in a store at the southern end of the board walk — the Evening Star's dispatch says a sandwich shop, the Smyrna Times a confectionery conducted by a Philadelphian — and ran through about a block and a half of small frame concession buildings on the western edge of the walk, from about Wicomico Street to South Division Street. It took Playland, an amusement hall owned by Thomas H. Conway of Wilmington, and damaged the Boardwalk Restaurant, a cigar store kept by Jack Burns, a store owned by James Velis and Arthur Monkhouse's restaurant; Conway's Funhouse on Worcester Street was scorched. Sparks showered the Atlantic Hotel, which was full, and its guests fled to the boardwalk and the beach in their night clothes while firemen and some of the guests played the hotel's own hose on it. Capt. James Dennis of the Ocean City Fire Department ran hose over the boardwalk and pumped from the Atlantic Ocean; companies came from Berlin, Snow Hill, Salisbury, Willards and Pocomoke City in Maryland and Delmar and Laurel in Delaware, and bay water was used where hose could not be got to the ocean front. A western breeze carried the flames out to sea and the fire was out after about two hours. It did not reach the Baltimore Avenue buildings behind the walk.
Three years and eight months after the fire that took the pier, the Casino and the Seaside, Ocean City burned again in the same three blocks — and this time the wind blew seaward and the town lost concessions rather than hotels. The Smyrna Times put it in one line: "Ocean City had a similar fire in December, 1925."
Ocean City BoardwalkAtlantic HotelCapt. James DennisThomas H. ConwayGeorge Givens
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1929
Ocean City's fire company opens the Eastern Shore carnival season on 30 May with a parade of Maryland and Delaware companies down Baltimore and Philadelphia Avenues.
'OCEAN CITY, Md., May 30 — The carnival season for volunteer fire companies of the Eastern Shore, which extends throughout the summer months, has been inaugurated by the fire company here. The local fete will continue until Saturday. A parade of Eastern Shore and Delaware fire companies will be held today on Baltimore and Philadelphia Avenues, with cash prizes awarded by the Ocean City firemen.' The dispatch listed the season's other Eastern Shore carnivals: Easton 23 June to 6 July, Hebron the week of 27 June, Willards 5 July, Salisbury 19 July, Parsonsburg 27 July, Princess Anne 25 July to 3 August, Sharptown 22 August.
The town that had to be saved by five other companies in December 1925 now opens the peninsula's firemen's season and hands out the prize money. Seven weeks earlier the county had voted it a share of a standing tax; three months later it saved the Atlantic Hotel.
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1930 · 1930-07-15
"The convention resort": seven state and regional bodies meet at Ocean City in 1930, and Mayor McCabe welcomes the Maryland druggists with Governor Ritchie closing the session.
Documented in the 1930 corpus: the 95th annual session of the Improved Order of Red Men, 23–24 April, at which Mrs. Florence Abernathy of Cherry Hill was elected Great Pocahontas of the Ladies' Branch (Midland Journal, 2 May); the Maryland Pharmaceutical Association in convention with the Delaware Pharmaceutical Society in late June, where "Mayor William W. McCabe of Ocean City gave an address of welcome to the state druggists at the opening session" and Governor Ritchie addressed the members at the close (Smyrna Times, 2 July); the Maryland State Teachers' Association, whose sessions drew the Garrett County superintendent (The Republican, Oakland, 3 July); the Automobile Trade Association of Maryland, 14–15 July, headquarters the Hotel Atlantic, "more than 350 visitors… among them Gov. Ritchie" (Washington Daily News, 8 July); the fifth annual convention of the Eastern Shore of Maryland Association of Optometrists, 21 August, with delegates from Delaware, Maryland, Virginia and the District (Washington Times, 21 August); the Del-Mar-Va Eastern Shore Association, whose Worcester County governors for the year were named on 1 July as including W. W. McCabe, Dr. C. W. Purnell and Frank W. Pruitt, all of Ocean City (Peninsula Enterprise, 5 July); and the Maryland State Council of the Izaak Walton League, meeting 19 September to elect officers and adopt a constitution (Evening Star, 7 September). In December the Community Fire Company of Rising Sun elected five delegates and five alternates to the Maryland State Firemen's convention, "which meets at Ocean City" — booked for 8–10 July 1931, "one month later than usual."
1928's draft called the convention trade 'the year's quiet economy'. In 1930 it is not quiet: it is the thing the town's own advertising leads with, and the mayor's job in July is standing up to welcome druggists.
Atlantic HotelDel-Mar-Va Eastern Shore AssociationMaryland Pharmaceutical AssociationState Teachers' Association of MarylandWilliam W. McCabeDr. Charles Washington Purnell
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1930 · 1930-09-09
Ocean City's fire company takes Best Apparatus at Milford, two years after taking Best Appearance at Selbyville.
Milford Chronicle, 12 September 1930: "On Tuesday night one of the finest firemen's parades ever staged in Milford was held. Fire companies, with their apparatus from twenty-six towns were in line… Prizes were awarded the winners as follows: Longest distance, Merchantville, N. J.; best appearance, Five Points Civic Association; best apparatus, Ocean City, Md.; best band, Federalsburg, Md.; second best band, Denton, Md." In July the company had been on the invitation list for the Milford parade alongside twenty-six other Maryland towns.
In 1923 the county paper called this department 'practically useless'; in December 1925 six visiting companies pumped out of Sinepuxent Bay while three blocks burned. Best Appearance in 1928 was turnout. Best Apparatus in 1930 is equipment — a judged verdict on what the town had actually bought.
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1934 · 1934-04-11
The council gave the firemen leave to take the big pumper to Lewes, Cambridge and one town more — and bought them 24 coats
On 11 April 1934, with the town asking a Berlin bank for a $2,000 loan to get to September, the council also granted 'Permit to Fireman to use the large Pumper to go to Lewes, Middletown, and Cambridge' — three out-of-town runs for the volunteer company's apparatus in a single permission, which in the firemen's calendar means conventions and parades. In August the secretary was ordered twice, on the 15th and again on the 21st, to buy twenty-four coats for the firemen. And on 13 September the town paid off the company's American LaFrance debt: '$2,600 — $2,500 note and $100 interest.' Preston Laws, elected to the council in August, was paid $12.70 for fire house supplies a week after taking office.
A town that could not pay its light bill without borrowing found the money for twenty-four coats and a road trip. The fire company was never only about fires.
Unverified — sourced but not confirmed against a primary record.
Source · checked 2026-08-11
1935 · 1935-02-04
In February the county's councils were called together over work relief; in December the town wrote to two senators about mosquitoes
At the meeting of 4 February 1935: “Letter of Dr. E. W. Cory on Pest Control and State Board of Health on milk ordnance and Secretary instructed to write that Council would Cooperate. Meeting of various Councils with County Commissioners for Tuesday night Feb. 5 to discuss work Relief talked over and Mayor and as many of Council as Could decided to attend.” An order also passed to give the Fire Company $25.00 towards an oyster roast. Ten months later, on 9 December, the secretary was instructed to write to F. W. Besley the State Forester, to Congressman T. Alan Goldsborough and to Senators Millard E. Tydings and George L. Radcliffe asking that the pest control be continued — a resort town of a few hundred winter residents lobbying its entire federal delegation about mosquito abatement, in the same month it was letting a sewer contract with federal money.
Unverified — sourced but not confirmed against a primary record.
Maryland State Board of HealthCounty Commissioners of Worcester County
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1935 · 1935-09-10
The firemen got $35 and the new truck for the convention — on condition the chief or the president went with it
On 10 September 1935 “Fireman were granted 35.00 on expenses to Fireman Convention, and use of new Truck provided The Chief or President of Company went with the truck.” The condition is the whole story: the town had spent the winter borrowing $1,000 at a time to clear the note on that engine — $2,585 of principal and $309.20 of interest due on 15 January 1935 — and it was not letting the machine leave Ocean City without an officer beside it. In February the council had also voted the company $25.00 towards an oyster roast. Seven weeks after the convention the Fire House was the polling place at which Ocean City voted 104 to 1 for a sewer.
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1936 · 1936-02-24
Ocean City's fire company answered a stove flare-up in February 1936, bought itself a Maryland Avenue lot, and was called out of town to help save Berlin's Main Street
'The flare up of a gasoline stove in the lower apartment of the home of Mrs. Mary Massey called out the Ocean City Volunteer Fire Company on Monday morning,' the Messenger reported on 27 February 1936. In March the company was summoned to Berlin, where a Main Street fire threatened the adjacent business places and the call for the Ocean City firemen went out 'at a time when it appeared that the blaze might get beyond control of Berlin firemen'. In April the company bought a lot fronting on Maryland Avenue from the Isle of Wight Land Company. On 12 May a committee waited on the council asking it to sponsor the building of an addition to the fire house, and the council agreed a committee would go further into the matter; in June the company staged an amateur show in the Pier Ballroom to raise money for equipment and improvements to the fire house, with $50 in prizes and entries taken by Herman Parsons. On 16 June the town gave the firemen $50 toward the expenses of the firemen's convention, and on 29 September the secretary was ordered to buy 400 feet of fire hose.
Pier Ballroom & Bandshell SiteIsle of Wight Land Company
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1936 · 1936-05-12
What Ocean City paid for and charged in 1936: $25 a season for bicycles, $1,000 to the Chamber, $150 to dike a street for the yacht club, $75 for a wharf out of the channel's way
The council's smaller transactions of 1936 read as a price list for a Depression resort. A bicycle licence was fixed at $25.00 a season for Anthony Purnell on 12 May. The same meeting voted $1,000.00 to the Chamber of Commerce after discussing the question with its Board of Governors, refused John S. Gordy of Snow Hill a permit for a bus service on Baltimore Avenue, and paid Levin J. Bunting $50.00 and Charles R. Bunting $75.00 for the removal of their wharves for the digging of the channel. On 16 June the town voted not over $150.00 to dike 14th Street for the Yacht Club and gave the firemen $50.00 toward the expenses of the firemen's convention. Archie Davis was again given the care of the town toilet on the same basis he had held it in 1935 - three dollars a week from 10 June to 10 September. On 29 December the council gave $25.00 to the Community Fund and charged it to advertising.
Ocean City Chamber of CommerceOcean City Yacht Club
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1936 · 1936-07-04
The Atlantic Hotel opened the Atlantic Crystal Ballroom on 4 July 1936 - 'a ballroom where refinement prevails'
'THE MANAGEMENT THE ATLANTIC HOTEL, OCEAN CITY, MD. ANNOUNCES THE OPENING OF THE ATLANTIC CRYSTAL BALLROOM ON JULY 4th, PRESENTING THE ATLANTIC SYNCOPATERS. A BALLROOM WHERE REFINEMENT PREVAILS,' ran the hotel's advertisement in the Salisbury Times on 2 and 3 July 1936, and again as a dance notice through the middle of the month. It is one of at least five dance rooms working the 1936 season: Jackson's on the boardwalk, with a ten-piece band, a floor show and new acts every Saturday under hostess Miss May Collins of Crisfield, which had had the Commanders' Band of Philadelphia in May; the Ocean Casino, a new night spot with Lennie Nelson as master of ceremonies and his Neptune Orchestra; the Pier Ballroom, where the volunteer fire company staged an amateur show on 19 June to raise money for equipment; the bayside Pavilion, which ran square dances; and the Club Casa Lona, newly opened on Wicomico Street under Cliff Hayman with meals, sandwiches and Italian spaghetti at all hours.
Atlantic HotelOcean City BoardwalkPier Ballroom & Bandshell Site
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1937 · 1937-06-16
The council refused to grant anyone a taxi franchise in 1937, licensed a bicycle-hire man, and told the fireworks dealers the ordinance would be enforced
'Taxi Service was discussed and on motion by W. H. Scott, Seconded by W. P. Laws council refuses to grant any franchise.' In the same sitting of 16 June 1937 the 'Application of Harold I. Schneiderer for to rent Bikes was O.K.'; the council 'decided to enforce the fireworks ordinance & Secretary instructed to notify all dealers of this section'; an unnumbered ordinance was passed; and the council granted the Fire Company $50 towards their expenses to Easton, where the Maryland State Firemen's Association was holding its convention. Earlier in the month the council had also turned away a trailer park: the secretary was to tell Mr. Duncan Jr. 'they did not look kindly to any place north of Dorchester St.', though the railroad lot south of Worcester Street might be considered if the neighbours had no objection and the sanitary condition could be met.
Maryland State Firemen's AssociationWilliam H. ScottW. Preston LawsHarold I. Schneiderer
Source · checked 2026-08-11
1937 · 1937-07-24
Ocean City's fire chief and delegate, Ralph R. Dennis, died of a heart attack an hour after carrying a hose to the roof of the George Washington Hotel
'RALPH R. DENNIS DIES SUDDENLY AT OCEAN CITY - Succumbs After Over-Exertion With Fire Department At A Hotel Fire. WAS MEMBER OF THE MARYLAND LEGISLATURE.' The Worcester Democrat of 30 July 1937 gives the whole of it. 'On Saturday night last, about 7:30, the fire siren sounded at Ocean City, Md. The scene of the fire was the George Washington Hotel, where it was found the chimney was on fire. The volunteer company was led to the hotel by the Chief, Ralph Dennis, who has been chief for the past 10 1/2 years. Rather than have some of the men climb the fire escape with the hose, he elected to do the duty himself ... He climbed four flights up with the hose slung over his back.' Dr. Robert Bay of Baltimore, who had a summer cottage on the boardwalk, was called in consultation. 'The violent coughing spell had ruptured a blood vessel, which in turn had caused a blood clot. Mr. Dennis died in the apartment above his store. He was 49 years of age. He was connected with the public schools of Worcester County for 13 years, teaching at Ocean City. He graduated from the Ocean City school and Charlotte Hall.' In May he had been named one of Ocean City's three white school trustees, with Edwin P. Calhoun and Franklin Purnell. In March 1936 he had introduced in the House of Delegates the bill to let the Mayor and Council of Ocean City 'license, regulate, control and tax games and gaming devices' - the town's first attempt to regulate rather than suppress the boardwalk slot machines. A. C. Davis was appointed in his place on 13 August 1937 by Capt. W. I. Purnell, the fire company's president, who was himself dead within three months. The Democratic Messenger, reporting the same succession on 19 August, could name the new chief only as the town barber.
A confectioner, a schoolteacher, a legislator and a volunteer fire chief of ten and a half years, all the same man, killed by carrying a hose up four flights of the tallest building on the boardwalk rather than send somebody else.
George Washington Hotel SiteRalph R. DennisCapt. William I. Purnell
Source · checked 2026-08-11
1937 · 1937-11-02
Capt. William Isaac Purnell, who came to Ocean City a year after it was founded and ended as president of its Chamber of Commerce, was buried with full military honours
'Capt. William Isaac Purnell, 65-year-old retired Coast Guard keeper ... buried with full military honors ... at St. Paul's-by-the-Sea Episcopal Church.' He had been keeper of the Ocean City Coast Guard station from 1917 to 1930, and afterwards, the Salisbury Times reported, 'For the past four years he had been president of the Ocean City Chamber of Commerce' and 'also president of the Ocean City Volunteer Fire Department'. 'At the age of 1 year he moved with his parents to Ocean City, one year after the Maryland resort was founded in July 1875.' In July 1937 he had told the Democratic Messenger that the Fourth of July crowd was 'the largest ever to visit here'; in August he had appointed the man who replaced the dead fire chief; in September he called the closing weekend 'a wonderful season'. He was the last public man in Ocean City whose own life was as old as the town.
Ocean City Chamber of CommerceCapt. William I. Purnell
Source · checked 2026-08-11
1938 · 1938-05-31
Ocean City sent twenty-five firemen to Baltimore in 1938 to ask for the state convention, and half the money was a loan against a dance
'Delegation from Fire Co. asked City to finance part of Cost of sending 25 firemen to state Convention in Baltimore to ask for state Convention here next Year. They Estimated the Cost at 25.00 per man.' That was 4 April; the council took it under consideration. On 31 May Capt. T. T. Moore and Fire Chief Archie Davis came back, and 'Council agreed to give 325.00 out right and finance 325.00 for them until they held a dance in August and repaid the 325.00.' Six hundred and fifty dollars for a delegation, half of it a bridging loan to be repaid out of a summer dance. It was the third thing the town did for the fire company that year: $450 towards uniforms on 18 January, permission on 10 May to take the No. 2 truck to the convention at Onancock, Virginia, and permission on 22 November to take a truck to Salisbury for a parade on 25 November.
Maryland State Firemen's AssociationA. C. DavisThomas T. Moore
Source · checked 2026-08-11
1940 · 1940-08-05
Ocean City's 1940 election was decided by one vote: the third council seat went to Robert Lee Cropper on 128 against Frank Salea's 127
'An Election was held in Firemens Building Monday August 5th 1940 for purpose of electing one person for Mayor and three persons for City Councilmen for a term of two years from 2nd Tuesday of September 1940 to 1942.' The polls were open from 2 P.M. to 6 P.M. The returns were filed with the clerk by three election judges, Stephen J. Quillin, Horace H. Richardson and Thomas L. Savage. For Mayor: Clifford P. Cropper 167, Charles W. Purnell 97, C. Parker Smith 2, John B. Lynch 3. For City Council: Harold J. Rayne 208, E. Raymond Bounds 189, Robert Lee Cropper 128, Frank Salea 127, Talbot E. Bunting 91. Three seats were to be filled, so Rayne, Bounds and Robert Lee Cropper took them and Salea missed by a single vote. The new mayor and council were sworn in by Magistrate J. Edward White at nine o'clock on the evening of 10 September, and organised by electing Bounds President of the Council and Rayne Treasurer, and reappointing J. M. Mumford Secretary and Wm. H. Scott attorney.
Four men stood for mayor and 269 votes were cast for them; five stood for three council seats and 743 votes were cast, so the same electors were plainly splitting their tickets. The mayor the council had appointed in January was confirmed by the town in August with a comfortable majority over the doctor who owned the Atlantic Hotel - and the last seat on the board turned on one elector, in a town whose whole year-round population the census had just put near a thousand.
Clifford P. CropperDr. Charles Washington PurnellHarold J. RayneE. Raymond BoundsRobert Lee CropperFrank SaleaJohn B. LynchJ. Edward White (magistrate)William H. ScottJ. M. Mumford
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1940 · 1940-10-14
Ocean City's firemen asked the town for $1,500 for a new alarm system and got $750 and a promise, and earlier in the year had asked it to abolish the alarm boxes altogether
On 14 October 1940 'Howard Wainwright & Peacock from the fire Co. were present asking for $1,500 for Alarm system and Council agreed to give $750 on system this year and balance next year if the Company wanted to go ahead with the system and finance from their fund.' The proposal had a longer history in the same year. On the afternoon of 8 July, Horace Wainwright had come before the council 'asking for the City to buy one more Gamewell, and that the Fire alarm boxes be cut out so that all alarms must come through the telephone'; the council deferred a decision to a further meeting which is not in the archive. In 1939 Ocean City had already given the telephone operator power to set off the fire alarm herself. In March 1940 the secretary was instructed to order 400 feet of fire hose for truck No. 1.
The street fire-alarm box, which Ocean City had put up as its modern safeguard, was obsolete within a generation of the fire that burned the town in 1925 - and the man asking to have the boxes cut out was the fire company's own. From 1939 the telephone operator could ring the alarm; from 1940 the firemen wanted every alarm to reach them that way. The exchange had replaced the street corner.
Source · checked 2026-08-11
1941 · 1941-09-15
The fire company asked for room to house another engine; the town found it by tearing out the heating plant, and paid Harry J. Cropper $975 to do it.
On Monday evening 15 September 1941, 'Fire chief Peacock and Allen Quillen were present asking that room be provided for housing another engine and council agreed to see if space could be provided by changeing heating plant and secretary ordered to secure prices on makeing the change.' Ten days later, on 25 September, 'Heating plant was discussed with Harry J. Cropper and he offered to make the change for $975. and on motion by Harold Rayne seconed by Raymond Bounds that order be given to Ma.Cropper for plant.' Nine hundred and seventy-five dollars is most of what the town had just voted the Chamber of Commerce, and it bought floor space rather than apparatus. Twelve weeks later Morris Peacock was one of the two men the council put over the Department of Fire Protection of its new home defence council, alongside Archie Davis, who had been the company's chief in 1939. The same statutory year had already brought the company money from Annapolis: Chapter 37 of the Acts of 1941, approved 15 April, required three-quarters of the sums raised in Worcester County to be divided equally among the incorporated volunteer fire companies of Ocean City, Berlin, Newark, Snow Hill, Stockton, Bishopville and Pocomoke City.
Morris PeacockHarry J. CropperHarold J. RayneE. Raymond BoundsArchie DavisClifford P. Cropper
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1942 · 1942-12-09
Ocean City's fire hose failed in 1942 and the town could not simply buy more — the War Production Board had to rate it.
The war reached the fire company through its plumbing. On 11 November 1942 a delegation from the Fire Company came before the council asking 'that the House manager be informed of his duties and that a check of the equipment be made by him on return of apparatus after being used'. The same minute records the substance: hose bought on 23 July 1940 having gone bad, the council decided to ship three sections back for examination and to ask that 600 feet be shipped at once to replace it. Four weeks later, on 9 December, the answer had come from two directions: 'Letters was read from War Production Board reference to rating on hose and from American La-France Foamite Corp. reference to finding of hose returned for inspection.' A town on a barrier island, whose whole history is fire, needed a federal priority rating to replace two-year-old hose. The matter was still unfinished on 3 January 1943, when a letter from Ryder about the hose was read at the first meeting of the new year. That 9 December meeting is the shortest in the 1942 book: convened at 7.30, adjourned at 7.45.
Clifford P. CropperHarold J. RayneE. Raymond BoundsHerman D. ParsonsEdmond H. Johnson
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1943 · 1943-03-10
The fire company came to the council in March 1943 for an additional fire alarm and got consent to spend up to $175 connecting it.
Clifford P. CropperE. Raymond BoundsHarold J. RayneHerman D. ParsonsJ. M. Mumford
Source · checked 2026-08-12
1943 · 1943-07-11
A $3,000 fire partly destroyed Lynch's-For-Everything in west Ocean City on 11 July 1943, and it was fought by the Berlin and Ocean City volunteers together with the Coast Guard fire boat and Harbor Control — a fireman and a Coast Guardsman were hurt.
United States Coast GuardWilliam BuntingA. O. Lynch
Source · checked 2026-08-12
1972 · 1972-01-31
The Fire Department's mechanic was earning $2.135 an hour and would get $3.25 under a new pay-grade-13 classification, against $3.05 to $4.25 for the town's other mechanics
At the 31 January 1972 session the mayor proposed a Fire Department mechanic classification at pay grade 13, "to be filled by Stephen Cropper who presently does this type work for the fire company." The minutes record: "The pay scales for the Fire Dept. are very confusing. Mr. Cropper is now receiving $2.135 an hour. He will receive $3.25 if raised. Mechanics in this city are paid $4.25 down to $3.05 an hour." Attorney Cathell asked to re-read the classification system "to be sure it's done properly"; all concurred.
Source · checked 2026-09-10
1973 · 1973-01-23
The Nordica Hotel at Talbot Street burned before dawn on 23 January, the sixth boardwalk fire in two months, and the arson chain that had already taken the Roosevelt and Colonial hotels passed $1 million in damage
"Another major fire, called the work of an arsonist, according to fire officials at Ocean City, hit this resort town early Tuesday. This blaze which destroyed the Nordica Hotel at Talbot St. on the Boardwalk, brings total damage to $1 million, in an outbreak of suspected fires which has plagued Ocean City since early December. The blaze is the sixth boardwalk fire in two months and city officials have already moved to get state assistance in probing the oceanfront fires, all of which have been positively attributed to arson." The earlier chain, put at $750,000, "destroyed the Roosevelt and Colonial Hotels and included other fires at the Stowaway Motel, an apartment building at 4th St., a small cottage at 83rd St. and a garage fire at the Atlantic Hotel at Wicomico St." Fire Chief Roland Powell said the Nordica blaze "was set from the interior of the building"; three floors of the four-storey, 23-room hotel were destroyed, some 200 firemen fought it until after 3:20 a.m., and authorities put replacement of the pre-1900 building, "believed to be one of the oldest buildings in the resort city," at $250,000. One of the owners, Mrs. Dorothy Swindler, could not estimate the loss. Front page, 24 January 1973.
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1974 · 1974-02-04
The council voted $300 to the fire company's Ladies Auxiliary to rent Convention Hall for the Fire Prevention Pageant, as it had the year before
On 4 February 1974 (item 11b) Councilman Cropper relayed a request from Mr. Villani, President of the Ocean City Fire Company: "there will be a Fire Prevention pageant and they would like to know if the Mayor and City Council would be in agreement with helping them. This is put on by the Ladies Auxiliary and they need help in paying the rent for Convention Hall, possibly to the tune of $300. We did this last year and the Council did agree that we should continue to help this cause." Cropper moved "that we give $300 to the Ladies Auxiliary of the Fire Company for the rental of Convention Hall for the Fire Prevention Pageant"; seconded by Purnell, unanimous by show of hands.
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1975 · 1975-08-04
The town proclaimed Calvin Bancroft 'Steve' Quillin, its first ambulance driver and a 26-year employee, an 'Honored Citizen' and gave him a Key to the City with his name engraved on it
First item of the 4 August 1975 regular session. Kelley: 'I remember the first ambulance that was bought and you were the first driver, night or day.' The resolution recited that Quillin 'has served the Town of Ocean City and the citizens thereof and sojourners therein, loyally and dutifully for over twenty six years', had supervised 'many public buildings and other public facilities', had been 'active in the Ocean City Volunteer Fire Company as an active member for over 50 years holding many offices', was its treasurer and statistician, and had 'on occasion performed such duties at considerable risks to himself'; 'BE IT PROCLAIMED TO THE WORLD... that Calvin Bancroft (Steve) Quillin be, and he hereby is, acclaimed and proclaimed to be, now and forever after, an HONORED CITIZEN of the Town of Ocean City', his name to be enrolled on the town's 'Honors List'. Kelley: 'we thought of a watch, we thought of a ring, but I believe this is more apropos Steve. This is a Key to the City of Ocean City, Maryland, with your name engraved on it.' Purnell, his liaison for 'the parking meters, the various stop lights in Town and the public rest rooms': 'He does a hell of a job.' Quillin: 'Thank you.'
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1977 · 1977-12-19
A December 1977 storm put a tug and barge ashore in front of the Sheraton, took the Coast Guard and firemen into the surf to bring four men off, and wiped out $150,000 of bulldozed beach in a season the mayor counted as fifty days of northeast wind out of sixty-five
Mayor Kelley's report of 19 December 1977, the morning after: "The Coast Guard showed an extreme amount of courage going out there. The tug threw a buoy overboard and came ashore. We got that and put a line to it and elevated it. Then the three of them came off ... by the time the Coast Guard and firemen got to them, I'll tell you what that tide was running as strong as I've ever seen it in my life. If you were just knee deep in it, it would knock you down ... [A] man with a little bit of heart trouble was the skipper. The barge floated on down and struck her broadside. He jumped on the barge and Chief Powell and another person threw a line to the barge and that guy came off ... this was close to one o'clock, maybe 12:15 to 12:30." By morning "the tug is broke up completely now and the barge is split," leaking diesel. "We've got a helluva storm, the seas are higher than they were October 14 ... It is very discouraging ... $150,000.00. That's just what we had in it. Friday the beaches were beautiful ... It's gone, ladies and gentlemen. I expect if I wasn't a grown man, I'd want to cry." Rented bulldozers cost "$3,500.00 a week apiece." "I hate to think if we hadn't had that buffer in front of the Sheraton when that barge broke loose and came ashore ... that barge would have been inside of her." "She's been tough this year. Fifty days of northeast winds out of 65." Police, Coast Guard and the Fire Company were ordered to watch every street from 10th Street north through the four o'clock high tide, with bulldozer operators standing by all night. Kelley also gave up his place on the Ocean City train in Mayor Schaefer's Inner Harbor parade in Baltimore the next day: "Unless you specifically tell me to go up in the parade I expect I'll hang around here."
Source · checked 2026-09-10
1978 · 1978-11-06
After residents showed an ambulance took eight to fourteen minutes to reach North Ocean City from 15th Street, the council voted to fund a second crew stationed at Montego Bay
A delegation led by a Mr Davis told the council on 6 November 1978 that an ambulance "to run from 15th Street to North Ocean City to around 140th Street ... will take approximately 8 to 10 minutes" and with a house or condominium to find "8, 10, 12, or even 14 minutes," that "most of the people living in North Ocean City are retired people," and that a round-the-clock off-season crew of six to eight men would cost about $20,000 to $25,000. Councilman Deutsch: "If the crucial time was 4 to 6 minutes for heart attacks before brain damage and we can't get to them before 8 we're certainly in trouble ... we afford a lot of other things around this Town for promotion, tennis tournaments, Six Days of September ... why in the hell can't we provide it for the people who live here?" Councilman Trimper moved "that we do fund 2 more ambulance people and ... see them stationed at the Montego Bay station," to applause; the motion carried, Mayor Kelley raising a hand he did not have - "You're the one that is going to jail, Mayor." Mr Ellingsworth said he could find the men within a month; the fire company's Mr Wilkins said it then had four CRTs - men with "over 300 hours of training in the hospital" - and three more in class.
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1981 · 1981-05-04
For the White Marlin Band Parade of 9 May 1981, moved up from Memorial Day to open the season early, the council voted 6-1 to let two or three private cars onto the Boardwalk so the Fire Department Queen and Miss Teenage Maryland could ride in a convertible
Bob Givarz, president of the Downtown Improvement Association, reminded the regular meeting of 4 May 1981 "of the upcoming White Marlin Band Parade, May 9th, of which the Mayor and City Council will be serving as Grand Marshals" - "the whole concept of this parade was to try and kick off the summer season a little bit early rather than the traditional Memorial Day." He asked the council to relax its rule against private vehicles on the Boardwalk: "We do have some ladies who will be in the parade, some Queens, one of which is the Ocean City Volunteer Fire Department Queen, and we think we might have Miss Teenage Maryland here ... we would like to have a nice car to allow them to ride in"; the Chamber of Commerce wanted a four-wheel drive "to show sport fishing" and the Assateague Mobile Sport Fishermen an entry. President Trimper was against it: "you're setting a very dangerous precedent, because everybody wants to use the boardwalk to put vehicles on. We've denied the antique cars. We've denied all others." Councilman Ayres had asked Public Works' Jake Shaner, who saw "no problem with automobiles or even pick-up trucks", and thought convertibles "an intricate part of a parade". Councilman Feehley moved to try it "on a one-time basis" with the boardwalk liaison; Harrison seconded; "Six in favor, one opposed. President Trimper was opposed." Givarz then asked, for the same association, that bicycles be allowed on the Boardwalk until 6 p.m. on May and September weekdays.
Ocean City Chamber of CommerceGranville TrimperGuy R. Ayres IIIG. Hale Harrison
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1983 · 1983-07-18
Volunteer fireman Jeff Dieter died fighting the Saute Cafe fire on Saturday 16 July 1983, and the council opened its next meeting with a minute of silent prayer and the Maryland flag at half mast for twenty-one days
The regular meeting of 18 July 1983 "was opened with a prayer by Councilwoman Conner in which we remembered Jeff Dieter, the fireman who lost his life fighting a fire in Ocean City." President Trimper turned the meeting over to Mayor Kelley: "We lost one of our family, it hurt, it hurt bad ... You live in cities sometime where you don't know your next door neighbor, this one here is our own" - and then "a minute of silent prayer from all of you." Later in the meeting Hale Harrison asked the council to make sprinklers mandatory in newly built restaurants and night clubs, and Trimper said "had that restaurant been sprinklered, they would be serving dinner there Saturday night and the life would not have been lost in vain." The index names the fire as the Saute Cafe fire. Kelley announced that "Governor Hughes through Mark Pilchard will have a citation tomorrow and Senator Joe Long will present the Maryland flag and the Legion will present the flag to the family," and that the city "will fly the Maryland flag at half mast for twenty-one days and the City flag." On 1 August the Fraternal Order of Police, which had been lent a Dunk the Clown machine, asked to give half its proceeds from a 24 August fundraiser on the pier to the trust fund set up for Dieter's son; the council agreed.
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1985 · 1985-12-16
After a tenant woke to smoke at 300 Judlee Avenue on 6 December 1985 and roused the building, the mayor read proclamations to him, to three volunteer firemen and to a police officer, one of whom had carried out a victim overcome by smoke
Regular meeting of 16 December 1985. Mayor Powell called up firemen Delbert Baker, Tim Price and Michael Todd and Police Officer Ronald W. Haslam: "These are some Ocean City heros and I know the public will like to look at you." The proclamation: "the Ocean City Volunteer Fire Department responded in the early morning hours of December 6, 1985 to a fire at an occupied apartment building at 300 Judlee Avenue... Mr. Price did at great personal risk to his own safety, successfully execute the rescue of a victim trapped and overcome by smoke in a burning building... such courage as to enter a building engulfed in flames is above and beyond the call of duty." Then the tenant. City Manager Barrett: "he was somewhat embarrassed... He was concerned about what he would have to do." Powell: "Well, I think he did the most important thing." The second proclamation: "Mr. Robert Hanson awoke in the early morning to smell smoke did notify the Ocean City Volunteer Fire Department and begin to awake tenants from the burning building... this private citizen's bravery and clear thinking saved the lives of all those residing in the building." Each carried the Great Seal, "this sixteenth day of December." The index spells him Handson; the proclamation, Hanson.
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1986 · 1986-08-18
Hurricane Charley passed Ocean City on the night of 17 August 1986 with shelters open and the television out, and the council's verdict the next evening was a successful preparation for a minor storm
The regular meeting of 18 August 1986 was held the evening after the storm. City Manager Barrett: "I'd just like to extend my appreciation and thanks to the Volunteer Fire Company, the Ladies' Auxiliary and of course our own City employees and to you for the work that was done over the hurricane period." Council President Trimper: "I also think the State Police, the State agencies, the County agencies deserve a great deal of credit and I think it's fortunate that the storm was as mild ... The School Board opened the shelters, the Social Services Department ... I too would like to compliment everybody who took part in what turned out to be a successful preparation for a minor storm." Councilman Hurley asked that the town "publicly thank the media for helping us last night. Especially the radio stations. I know that I've talked to two or three people on the phone last night and apparently it is a very lonely situation in some buildings with the wind howling outside and they're down here strange and the TV's out and they don't know anything and had it not been for some of the radio stations they would have been lost." Mayor Powell: "The news media was excellent." On 1 September Trimper reported a plaque from the Hotel-Motel Association "in their appreciation of the work of the Mayor and Council during the hurricane", announced over WBAL Radio, and the mayor said the beach "has grown fifty to sixty feet and more than that since the storm, Charley, already."
Roland E. "Fish" PowellGranville Trimper
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1990 · 1990-04-16
Ocean City and its fire company gave a 1959 pumper and equipment to St. Stephen, South Carolina, after Hurricane Hugo, and the South Carolina town made every citizen of Ocean City an honorary citizen of St. Stephen by resolution
At the regular meeting of 16 April 1990 Mayor Powell read a letter from Mayor Robert B. Hoffman of St. Stephen, South Carolina - "we were humbled by an unexpected but extremely generous gift from Ocean City, Maryland, Fire Department ... Hugo's destructive forces have placed a financial burden on the town which will result in budget cuts" - and the resolution enclosed with it, passed 26 February 1990: "WHEREAS, The Town of St. Stephen was devastated by Hurricane Hugo on September 21st and 22nd of 1989 ... WHEREAS, The people of St. Stephen want to show their appreciation for the kind gift, a fire truck, and BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the citizens of Ocean City, Maryland, and members of their Fire Department, be adopted as honorary citizens of the Town of St. Stephen, South Carolina, and that a bond of kinship forever be established between our cities." Powell: "some of the very first help that left the State of Maryland was from the Town of Ocean City and Ocean City manpower. And most all that went to the Charleston area ... the Town of Ocean City with the fire company did donate a fire truck and a lot of equipment that went with it." He asked that the plaque hang in the Fire Department. President Hurley: "For the record it was the first truck I was ever assigned to in the Fire Department ... that was a 1959 pumper." Councilman Hall: "No wonder they had to get rid of it."
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1990 · 1990-11-13
The council loosened the 1987 false-alarm rule from two free alarms and $50 thereafter to six free a year, $100 on the seventh and $200 on the ninth, the fire company president objecting that three false alarms 'were sufficient'
Item 5 of the work session of 13 November 1990: "Currently two false alarms are allowed and a charge of $50 is made for all those over two. This system was tightened up in 1987 because of so many false alarms being turned in and patrons felt it was easier (and cheaper) for the police to respond rather than getting the alarm repaired. Since that time subscribers have repaired their alarms and the system has improved greatly. The Police Commission has been discussing this and was proposing allowing six alarms per year and charging $100 on the seventh." Councilman Hall moved it, Councilman Mann seconded. "Mr. Roger Steger, President of the O.C. Volunteer Fire Company, made an appearance and asked if this would also be the same for the fire alarms as he felt three false alarms were sufficient"; it "was agreed that it was more costly to get a fire crew together than a police cruiser." President Meehan asked about a further step "after possibly ten calls. It was decided that $200 would be charged on the ninth alarm and the motion was so amended." The new charges were to take effect 1 January and be published with the business licences. The vote was unanimous with Councilwoman Hacking absent.
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1996 · 1996-04-15
Two police officers received the department's Silver Star, an award "only presented a handful of times", for carrying an 86-year-old woman out of a burning house at 107 Talbot Street in February
Chief David Massey at the regular meeting of 15 April 1996, reading from a 26 February letter from Fire Marshal Sam Villani: "In the early morning of February 22nd of this year, the fire was reported at 107 Talbot Street. The fire involved an occupied, two-story, wooden structure ... PFC Brett Case was working in the area, arrived on the scene, and observed heavy smoke coming from the structure. He then heard a cry for help coming from the second floor ... Disregarding his own personal safety, PFC Case proceeded into the smoking building to the second floor, covering his face with his coat to fend off the smoke." Officers Albert Custer and James Schultz and volunteer firefighter Michael Myer searched the building; "PFC Case located an 86-year-old female occupant on the second floor and picked her up. And with the assistance of Officer Custer, carried her down to safety. Had it not been for the heroic actions of all four of these public safety personnel, there would have been in all probability a fatal tragedy that night." Lieutenant Myer of the volunteer fire company received the police department's Certificate of Appreciation, Schultz an Excellent Police Performance Award, and Case and Custer "the Police Department's highest award, the Silver Star ... which has only been presented a handful of times". The same evening the Edgewater/St. Louis Avenue Neighborhood Watch gave its own awards to Officers Scott Kirkpatrick, Kevin Healy, Monica Skarpac and Sergeant Bernadette DiPino.
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1998 · 1998-12-21
The mayor proclaimed the Ocean City Volunteer Fire Company's Firefighter Combat Challenge team for its win at Kissimmee, Florida, in November, on the same night the police chief laid out the department's year of awards including the National Police Shooting Championships
At the regular session of 21 December 1998 (Regular Session #25): "Mayor Mathias presented a proclamation to the members of the Ocean City Volunteer Fire Company Firefighter Combat Challenge Team in recognition of their winning efforts in Kissimmee, Florida, this past November." Before it, "Police Chief David Massey addressed awards recently received by members of the Ocean City Police Department ... the 1998 Chief' s Challenge Award for seat belt compliance; the R. A. A. M. Program Award in recognition for coordinated efforts with the local alcoholic beverage industry; the National Police Shooting Championships Awards recently held in Jackson, Mississippi; the Governor' s Certificate of Merit for an outstanding crime prevention program, known locally as L. E. A. D. ( Law Enforcement Against Domestic Violence); and the Governor' s Crime Prevention Award in Excellence for 1998." Earlier in the year, on 21 September, the mayor had congratulated Fire Chief Roger Steger on his coming presidency of the Maryland State Firemen's Association and "paid tribute to his father who yesterday had been sworn into the Firemen' s Hall of Fame."
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2000 · 2000-06-19
A fire truck was stolen from an Ocean City fire station one June weekend and recovered; the ambulance crew had gone out at 5 a.m. and believed they had shut the door behind them
Under Comments from the Mayor at the regular meeting of 19 June 2000, held in the community room at Northside Park, "Mayor Mathias thanked all agencies involved in the recovery of the fire truck that had been stolen this past weekend." Council Member Fitzsimmons then "requested a briefing on the fire truck theft be provided to the Mayor and Council. Emergency Services Director Clay Stamp related an ambulance had gone out at 5:00 a.m. and shut the door behind them; therefore, to their knowledge the station was secure. However, there are meetings scheduled with fire house personnel to fine tune security regulations." The minutes do not say which station, who took the truck, or where it was found.
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2003 · 2003-06-16
Steve Hales was inducted into the Maryland State Firemen's Association Hall of Fame, and Clay Stamp and Bo Duke received the Golden Cup of Heroism for saving a life at the Siesta Village fire
Under comments from the Mayor at the 16 June 2003 regular session: "Mayor Mathias noted that Steve Hales had been inducted into the Hall of Fame by the Maryland State Firemen's Association for his many years of service and that Clay Stamp and Bo Duke had received the Golden Cup of Heroism Award for their efforts in the saving of a life at a fire at Siesta Village last year." Stamp was the town's Emergency Services Director; later in the year he wrote the Hurricane Isabel wrap-up and was invited with the Mayor to Estonia.
Maryland State Firemen's AssociationJames N. "Jim" Mathias Jr.
Source · checked 2026-09-10
2007 · 2007-01-02
The Fire/EMS Division's highest commendation went to Firefighter/Paramedic Delbert Baker for pulling a 15-year-old girl "only seconds from drowning" out of the Tropical Storm Ernesto surf at 78th Street, then going back in for a second victim
The first session of the year recorded the rescue of 14 September 2006: "Members of the Fire EMS Division and the Ocean City Volunteer Fire Company were dispatched to 78th Street for a surf rescue. Upon arrival of the scene, rescuers found three individuals in the water. One female victim could be heard calling out for help approximately 125 to 150 yards off shore. The surf conditions were severe due to the passing of Tropical Storm Ernesto." Attachment A: "At great risk to himself, Firefighter/Paramedic Delbert Baker affected the rescue of a 15 y/o girl who was only seconds from drowning in a strong rip current and extremely rough surf. After completing the rescue of the girl, Firefighter/Paramedic Delbert Baker re-entered the water and located a 2nd victim. While in the water, Firefighter/Paramedic Baker began resuscitative efforts on the 2nd victim while awaiting the arrival of the U.S. Coast Guard." Eric Borneman received a Special Commendation for searching for two remaining victims; a Unit Commendation went to fourteen members who "quickly established a receiving and treatment area at the U.S. Coast Guard Station."
Source · checked 2026-09-10
2008 · 2008-04-21
After a 3-3 tie in February and a 4-3 vote a week later, the council in April 2008 unanimously adopted a joint-meeting plan that created a single Fire Chief over the volunteer company and the paid fire-EMS division, with volunteer chief Chris Larmore in the post
Work session of 12 February 2008: "Chief Larmore asserted that the Fire/Rescue Service needs 'one Fire Chief'. He advised that, in 2007, administrative decisions for the Fire Service were made without his knowledge causing dissention." Emergency Services Director Joe Theobald "acknowledged that Chief Larmore should have operational authority on the fire ground" but was "concerned about giving the Chief administrative authority over the Fire/EMS Division at this time"; the career firefighters' union president, Michael Maykrantz of IAFF Local 4269, was "concerned about the Volunteer Fire Chief having complete authority over the City's career Fire/EMS employees." Pillas's motion to appoint Larmore interim chief failed 3-3-0. On 19 February Council President Mitrecic's own plan passed 4-3 (Hall, Howard and Pillas opposed) over the caveat that Larmore step down as volunteer chief. On 17 March the Volunteer Fire Company's president Jay Jester called the mayor's plan "fatally flawed" and proposed instead "to separate the Fire Service from Emergency Medical Service responsibilities" ("it is cheaper to hire a Firefighter than a Paramedic/Firefighter"), which the IAFF's Kevin O'Connor opposed. A joint meeting with the volunteers was held at the Convention Center on 14 April, and at the regular meeting of 21 April 2008 Mitrecic "explained that this recommendation establishes the new Fire Chief Position and the organizational structure of the Ocean City Fire Service. Ocean City Volunteer Fire Chief Chris Larmore pledged to work with City Manager Dare to establish goals, policy and procedures for his Department. Council Member Mary Knight moved to approve the recommendation from the Joint Meeting; seconded by Council Member Jim Hall. The vote was unanimous." A memorandum of understanding with the volunteer company followed on 27 May; by 30 September Larmore was presenting as "Ocean City Fire Chief", the department was taking offices at the 14th Street headquarters with $10,000 of the $25,000 cost from the volunteers' board, and on 1 December a new department seal was adopted.
Source · checked 2026-09-10
2011 · 2011-09-13
Fire Marshal Sam Villani retired in September 2011 after thirty-five years and was given a Key to the City and a proclamation at the work session
Item 3 of the work session of 13 September 2011 was headed "RECOGNITION OF FIRE MARSHALL SAM VILLANI'S RETIREMENT: Mayor Meehan presented Sam Villani with a Key to the City and issued a Proclamation in Appreciation of his 35 years of service." Villani had been at the council table as recently as 14 June, when he told the street-performer discussion that "generators should not be permitted on the boardwalk because of the shock hazard and hot exhaust." On 3 October the mayor concurred with the Fire Commission's recommendation to appoint Assistant Chief David W. Hartley as Fire Marshal in his place, and the council voted the appointment unanimously.
Source · checked 2026-09-10
2021 · 2021-02-09
By early February the Ocean City Fire Department was the only agency vaccinating alongside the Worcester County Health Department and had hosted eleven COVID-19 clinics
New Business at the 9 February 2021 work session - the first the council held in person after resuming virtual meetings in January under the state's ten-person gathering limit: "COVID19 Vaccination Update presented by Fire Chief Ritchie Bowers. Fire Chief Ritchie Bowers and staff provided a background of the COVID-19 pandemic to include state actions, fire department health and safety protocols, operational responses, personal protective supplies, vaccine planning, preparation and process, and state and local partnerships. Maryland is currently in Phase 1C. The Ocean City Fire Department is the only agency vaccinating with the Worcester County Health Department and has hosted 11 clinics. Mayor and Council thanked the Ocean City Fire Department for being on the front lines in protecting Ocean City residents and employees from this serious illness." Three months later, on 17 May, the council proclaimed 16-22 May Emergency Medical Services Week and presented the proclamation to Chief Bowers and five firefighter-medics; on 6 July the county commissioner reported Worcester County had lifted its State of Emergency on 1 July.
Source · checked 2026-09-11
2021 · 2021-05-02
A motorist jumped 25 to 35 feet from the Route 90 bridge into the Assawoman Bay to pull a face-down infant from the water after a five-car crash, and the council gave his family and the family of the boat that picked them up Keys to the City
The fire and police chiefs' incident narrative, attached to the 16 August 2021 regular meeting, records that "At 1447 hours on May 2, 2021, a serious vehicle collision occurred on the Route 90 Bridge" - "a mass casualty incident (MCI) that involved 5 vehicles and a total of 8 victims" - with one vehicle "dangling on the bridge railing over the Assawoman Bay." Jonathan D. Bauer, whose own car had been struck, was pointed at the water by an occupant with whom he shared no language: "Jonathan looked over the bridge and noticed an infant in a baby seat floating in the water ... The baby was now face down in the water." He told his 13-year-old daughter Ava to stay at the car, took off his shoes, "jumped over the bridge railing and descended some 25-35 feet" into about four feet of cold water, swam to the baby, and tapped her back until "she coughed up some more water and opened her eyes." Alayna Oertel, on a family pontoon boat, saw the jump, had her father run the boat over and readied life vests; the Oertels carried the pair to a boat ramp where paramedics were waiting, and the infant was flown by State Police Medevac to a children's trauma center. Under Items Presented by the Mayor and City Council on 16 August: "Fire Chief Bowers and Police Chief Buzzuro presented a summary of the May 2, 2021, Rt. 90 Bridge mass casualty incident, recognizing heroic efforts of civilians, OC 911 Dispatchers, OC Volunteer/Career Fire Department, OCPD and mutual aid units ... Mayor Meehan presented the Oertel family and Bauer family with a Key to the City."
Ocean City Police DepartmentRick MeehanRoss C. Buzzuro
Source · checked 2026-09-11
2025 · 2025-08-12
On 12 August 2025 the Mayor and Council acknowledged the sudden death of former Fire Chief Chris Larmore, crediting him with combining the volunteers, the career firefighters and the fire marshal into one Ocean City Fire Department
The work session of 12 August 2025 closed with a note the clerk set apart from the business of the day: "The Mayor and Council acknowledged the sudden passing of former Fire Chief Chris Larmore. Chief Larmore held an important leadership role a during significant, difficult time with a goal to combine three divisions: volunteers, career and fire marshal, known today as the Ocean City Fire Department." The same year's minutes note the passing of long-time resident Steve Pastusak (18 February, with condolences to the family) and of resident Larry Holdren and Dr. Leonard Berger (2 September).
Source · checked 2026-09-11