Vintage fire helmet reunited with Wamesit Engine Company in Meredith

MEREDITH — A vintage fire helmet bearing No. 3 has made its way back to the Meredith Fire Department, with Dan Estes’ donation of the rare artifact on May 12.

Estes, operator of Estes Auction Gallery, purchased the helmet for $1,000 about five years ago from another Meredith business owner, the late Paul Hough, of Waukewan Antiques.

“I’ve been into antiques, and I obviously like local stuff,” Estes said. “Paul was a good friend of mine, and the helmet — they’re unusual to find, helmets like that. Then it was a local thing, so I’m like, 'I like this one.'”

Now that Estes is getting ready to leave the area — “possibly moving to Florida” — he said, “I figured it’s from Meredith, and I figured I’d just donate it to the fire department.”

Standing in front of the antique Wamesit 3 pumper on display at the fire museum, Fire Chief Ken Jones said the department already has eight matching helmets in its collection, each bearing No. 3, to indicate its relationship to the pumper.

“We’re not sure exactly what era these helmets are in; rather, if it came with this hand pumper when it was purchased in 1858, or if they were purchased right after that, but that’s where the Wamesit Engine Company comes from, because this [pumper] was known as a Wamesit.”

Wamesit Engine Company is the nonprofit organization operating in association with the Meredith Fire Department.

A retired member of the department told Jones one of the original helmets had been stolen.

“We’re not sure, is that the stolen helmet, or how many helmets were there?” Jones said. “Obviously, it goes back somewhere to the turn of the century, or before. The style of these helmets changed.”

Jones noted that, when purchased, “This hand pump [cost] $545. We just signed a contract for a new engine, a little over a million" dollars.

Before the fire station was remodeled — a section of the new addition was built specifically to display the hand pumper — the machine had been on display at the Mobil station next door. After the 2009 Memorial Day parade, the firefighters had their own “little parade where we pulled and escorted this up around here,” Jones said.

As for the helmets, the chief said the old style, with an eagle on the top, was in vogue until the 1970s, and are now again in demand.

“We have transferred back here in Meredith to the traditional style as well,” Jones said, noting the department provides a mostly fiberglass version, but many of the members buy their own, more-traditional leather helmets that cost $2,000 or more.

In addition to the old helmets, the fire museum has a range of other helmets on display, to show how the styles have changed through the years.