Randolph Center Fire Department

I have been fortunate to work with the Randolph Center, Vermont firefighters.  They have been appreciative of the (rare they say) opportunity to have a house donated for fire training. Being volunteers and busy people in their regular lives, I have appreciated their willingness to work with me.  I should go back and count the number of emails we have exchanged when the process started back at the beginning of October 2023. 

I started by approaching the town of Randolph Fire Department, just because I had seen the fire station in Randolph and assumed that was the one fire department in town.  I went to their door and knocked, then sat in their parking lot and called, leaving a message. I have learned a lot since then. 

Randolph Center’s fire station is on Furnace Road in Randolph Center, so even though they are set back from the main road, just beyond Floyd’s Store, they are very much a fully-functioning fire department. 

Read this interesting article from the Randolph Herald newspaper to see how the road got the name Furnace Road:

https://www.ourherald.com/articles/ye-olde-langevin-house/

I have worked with Tim Angell, now retired Chief (I’m hoping I wasn’t a contributing factor) and his son Joe Angell who is in charge of fire training, and current chief Dana Williams.  All wonderful, smart, polite, hard-working fire fighters, as their sign above the station says- “We bust ours to save yours.”   

They invited me up to one of their Monday night regular meetings at the station.  Entering the door at the front, you pass by resting large engines, lockers with firefighter gear, all of the usual stuff I had seen at my son’s station in Greenfield, MA where he is a Captain.  It’s still impressive to those of us in the general public.  It is still awe-inspiring that there are those who will risk their lives with fire to help others. 

As a little kid, my son looked up to firefighters, now his daughter does the same.  But then again, this is her Daddy.  He’d be a hero no matter what. 

I received a friendly welcome at that meeting in Randolph.  We exchanged introductions.  Some of the firefighters brought their kids along.  This is real life.  We sat around a big table and had a chance to ask any questions we might have.  How many firefighters will be involved?  Fifty!  There are trainees from (the former) VTC, including women.  Randolph Center, East Randolph, Town of Randolph, and Brookfield will be involved. 

I provided them with the required paperwork I had filled out for the state agencies thus far, and a floor plan of the house.  I forgot to snap a photo, so I barged back in for that.  They were nice enough to accommodate me, even though I’m sure it isn’t ‘their thing.’ 

I headed  back down the road towards Massachusetts as they continued on with their general business.

In February on a Sunday, I met with a smaller group of the same firefighters to tour the house. 

I pointed out where the two houses are separating and they agreed that the hidden passageway between the two houses would be off limits. 

In fact, after discovering a broken beam in the basement under the fireplace room and a floor that can make you seasick, they will make that entire “2nd House” off limits.  As they said, “we don’t want anyone getting hurt.”

Whereas I was planning on emptying the house completely, they find it more useful for training if there can be some furniture, so the couch along with some beds and other wooden furniture can stay. 

I have been traveling up to the house about once a week all winter and now I have the very last items out of the house to be saved.  I have mostly traveled alone. My husband, the real Cooley, has been busy being a full time professor and Assistant Department Head at UMass, Amherst. Two hours up/two hours back.  Stop in Ascutney for decadent treats.

I am so excited about these doors having the very same doorknobs on them that many relatives have touched over the years.  They will go in the new house. 

I am looking for someone who knows how to make windows from scratch.  I want to create a long narrow eyebrow window with the old wavy glass from these windows for a view to the sunset on the west side of the new house. We'll be looking through the same glass that others in the family looked through.

Now, tomorrow is the big day. I am excited as one would be when you have put in a lot of effort and planning, but also dreading it.  I don’t want the house to be gone.  I don’t want an empty spot there on that sweet little rise in the yard. I'm sorry.