Original Bryans Road firefighters look back on their volunteer past
Hedges and Eastburn have over 50 years of service
In 1961, Bryans Road received an addition to the community with a volunteer fire department, Station 11.
Elvan Hedges, 84, and Bob Eastburn, 92, both of Bryans Road are the last remaining active charter members of the Bryans Road Volunteer Fire Department.
Hedges, the department’s first president, and Eastburn, the department’s first secretary, were involved in creating the fire department in 1961.
Eastburn said there was a lot of pushback from the community
and local government when they came up with the idea of starting a fire department in Bryans Road.
Both Eastburn and Hedges started at the Indian Head Volunteer Fire Department. Eastburn was president and assistant chief of Indian Head and also served as the president of Charles County Volunteer Fire Association from 1961-1962. The men said they saw a need for a fire department between Indian Head and Accokeek in the early 1960s.
“We were going [to] have it one way or the other,” Eastburn said.
He said they actually cleared land on Hedges’ property to build the firehouse; however, quickly later, they received a piece of land, which is where the Bryans Road firehouse is currently located off Livingston Road.
Hedges’ son, Mike Hedges, who is also a member at Bryans Road, said he remembers them at the kitchen table planning where the firehouse was going to be as a child.
The men said the firehouse started with only one small building and three pieces of equipment: a brush truck, an ambulance and an engine.
“We started with an old cinderblock building,” Eastburn said. “This department has come a long way.”
Elvan Hedges is known for his documentation of everything involving the firehouse. “He’s known for his notes, he’s always taking notes,” Mike Hedges said.
Elvan Hedges brought in several binders of firehouse documents, from the first annual report to the first call Bryans Road ever ran, all handwritten.
Elvan Hedges had a handwritten document of the department’s first fire call on June 6, 1963, for a dumpster fire on Berry Road; nine members responded to the call.
He also had the department’s first annual report which included a breakdown of calls of service: 49 brush fires, 23 house fires, three water calls and three false alarms. The men said that now the department runs about 13,000 calls per year.
Mike said that Elvan loves everything about being a part of the fire department. “He eats, sleeps and breathes it,” Mike said.
“Both Elvan and Bob still take an active role in the department by attending meetings at the county level,” Fire Chief Clifford Montgomer y said.
Eastburn said he and Hedges attend about 40 or 50 tri-county meetings a year.
“They have both given over 50 years of volunteer service to the citizens of our county. Even though they have retired from responding to emergencies, they both are always willing to give advice to the current members and officers as to the successful operation of the department,” Montgomer y said.
Eastburn said a memory that he will never forget was when he and other charter members were driving their new firetruck from New York, they were passing a field of cows and he got on the loud speaker and mooed like a cow.
“Them cows jumped and [the others] were just laughing in the back,” Eastburn said laughing.
The men said that the technology from the trucks to the equipment has changed vastly since the start of the department.
“You go ask any of the [young] guys what an Indian can is, they don’t know what it is,” Eastburn said. He said an Indian can is a heavy backpack fire extinguisher, which had to be pumped by hand and used for brush fires. He said that now they are light weight bags that are easier to use.
He also said that the technology inside the trucks is much more advanced. “I sit in the truck and it feels like I’m looking at a jet plane,” Eastburn said laughing.
Eastburn said the reason he has been involved in the fire department for over 70 years is because “it’s in [his] blood” and he loves helping people in the community.
“To me, it does good, I don’t get out the house much since my wife passed away, it’s good to see the guys,” Eastburn said.
“Our department wouldn’t be where it is today if it wasn’t for the forethought and insight that Bob and Elvan have provided to our department from the beginning,” Montgomer y said.
“Mr. Eastburn and Mr. Hedges still actively attend all volunteer fire and EMS meetings around the county. They have shared many stories and interact with our current leadership while continuing to pave the way to enable success for our volunteer system as we know it in 2018,” said Bill Smith, Charles County Volunteer Fire & EMS spokesman.
“I’d never dreamed it’d be like it is now,” Eastburn said about the fire department.