"This is not a station, it's a house, and for half of my life I lived here. I had two homes. These were my brothers and sisters. We ate together, food was good here, firefighters cook well." Mike Eagle, former firefighter.
"We saw good things and bad things, childbirth, child death, car accidents, bike accidents, pool accidents, a lot of people hurt. Those things bond you together as a family. I have seen really bad stuff. Being a firefighter is pretty stressful, not everyone can do it. You do it because you like to do it, you don't do it for the money, you don't do it for a badge on your back or reward every day. People say thank you. Do you pay a price? Sure, sometimes you die early. Would I have changed it for the world? Not at all. Never. It's my calling. It's who I am. Do I miss it? Hell, yeah."
Catonsville Firehouse
The Catonsville Fire Department started with a team of volunteer men, a horse-drawn fire wagon, and a ladder at 22 Bloomsbury Avenue in 1887. Fire wagons could transport hoses and water tanks holding up to 180 gallons of water, but in 1894, the fire station acquired a two-horse wagon capable of pulling a Holloway Chemical Engine. Produced by the Charles T. Holloway Company in Baltimore, the apparatus could spray a fire-extinguishing mix of bicarbonate of soda and acid. While technologies improved over the years, the Fire Department still struggled to keep up with the challenges of fires that were largely due to most residences being built out of wood. In addition to serving as the community's first fire station, 22 Bloomsbury Avenue served as Catonsville's first police station, courthouse, and jail.
Four years following the Great Baltimore Fire of 1904, a devastating fire took place at one of the earliest country clubs on the East Coast, located in Catonsville. This 1908 fire prompted an outcry from members of the community, who demanded better technology and a new fire station. This response built on earlier complaints about police security. As the local newspaper the Argus reported in 1902, residents were worried that when firemen were off-site fighting fires, often for hours, it was not difficult for prisoners to break out of the jail in the same building. Shortly thereafter, the fire department purchased its first motorized firetruck in 1908, and by 1928, the Catonsville Fire Department had moved to this site (without the jail).
Fire Department at 22 Bloomsbury Avenue, circa 1915-1928. Courtesy of Baltimore County Public Library.