Omena’s own Santa on a snowy Christmas Eve arriving by Fire Engine.

“They came to the little white church on the hill from all around the countryside by cutter and two horse sleighs, bundled up against the cold with lap robes tucked around them. Under the big candle-lit tree were presents for every child, Indian and white.” Before electricity, candles provided the sparkle to the Christmas tree. Did they sometimes catch trees on fire? You bet they did! Luckily, the candle-lit tree never caught the Omena Church on fire, but there were many fires from Christmas tree candles during the holidays.

Placing lit candles on Christmas trees probably began with the early American colonists who brought the tradition over from Germany. It soon became a widespread tradition. Tragically, candles were as deadly as they were pretty. Christmastime candle fires became so regular that by 1908, many insurance companies refused to cover fires started by Christmas tree fires.

This is one of the only known photos of a tree glimmering with those actual candles. This photo is from a party in the year 1900. Courtesy 'Old Time Herald"

This is one of the only known photos of a tree glimmering with those actual candles. This photo is from a party in the year 1900. Courtesy ‘Old Time Herald”

Part of the reason they were so deadly and destructive is that early firefighters were simply community members. They would respond to neighborhood fires with their buckets forming a “Bucket Brigade,” filling the buckets with water and passing them forward to be dumped on the fire. In Omena, this worked better if you lived near the bay.

Before 1947, Omena did not have any firefighting equipment except buckets. Then Frank Kalchik began using one of his trucks on which he had a 500-gallon water tank and pump to fight fires in the community. He also did long distance hauling for local farmers, then bulldozing, excavating, and removing old orchards. Around the same time, he purchased a fire damaged Anderson Warehouse on County Road 326 near the railroad tracks. Perhaps he was protecting his buildings from fire with this truck with the water tank on it. After all, his father Joseph had had a fire which burned down his sawmill in 1907. It was a common occurrence.

In 1948 the township purchased a trailer on which there was a portable pump. This was kept handy in a shed behind Anderson’s Store and was quickly hitched to someone’s truck in case of fire.

On March 23, 1961, the Chicago Province of the Society of Jesus, owners of Pere Marquette Catholic retreat center, deeded a corner of their property for a fire station site in Omena. The Omena Fire Hall was completed in July 1961 at a cost of $2,595.75. The portable pump and trailer were then housed in the new fire house.

In 1963 Fred Weiss and Robert Morse, summer residents of Omena, formed a citizens committee to form the Omena Volunteer Fire Department. They received $2,650 in contributions and proposed to purchase a truck. The first truck was a 1947 Ford.

The first fire chief was John Putnam, owner of Putnams gas station in the center of the village. He was replaced by Keith Brown, who took over the gas station also two years later.

Children aboard the Suttons Bay fire engine for a ride through Omena (1938). On board are, from left to right: Kathy Stephenson, Jim "Buck" Centner Sr., Janet Graf Tate, Jack Stephenson, and standing: Roddy Larrabee and Ellie Stephenson. Courtesy of Elle Stephenson and Omena Historical Society

Children aboard the Suttons Bay fire engine for a ride through Omena (1938). On board are, from left to right: Kathy Stephenson, Jim “Buck” Centner Sr., Janet Graf Tate, Jack Stephenson, and standing: Roddy Larrabee and Ellie Stephenson. Courtesy of Elle Stephenson and Omena Historical Society

Sutton’s Bay had a 1927 firetruck, which in 1938 was the envy of some fun-loving young people from Omena. It was August, the summer was winding down, and a final end-of-summer beach picnic was planned at Ingall’s Bay. Jack Stephenson had the idea that borrowing the firetruck to take all the kids to the beach picnic and a loop around Omena Point would be fun. After all, he reasoned, an eleven-year-old Ford with only 500 miles in it needed exercise.

Off they went to the fire station, stopping by the switchboard to ask permission. They were sent to the Mayor of Sutton’s Bay, going to his Dodge Garage only to find he was picking peaches. When they found him up on a ladder out toward Stoney Point, they pleaded their case. The mayor said he could not authorize the use of the fire engine because Red Leo was in charge of driving it. But if Red thought it was all right, it was all right with him.

I will let Jim Centner, who was part of this escapade, continue the story:

“Back in Suttons Bay, Jack and I found Red Leo, who scratched his head, then said that he could not take time off for the short trip and did not have anyone else around to drive. But he knew me and my grandfather, Leo Cloud, and he thought I was a responsible kid and a good driver. He decided to allow me to drive the engine, but with a few conditions. We were not to speed, were to take only one trip around Omena Point, and, to keep from alarming the farmers, who might think there was a fire, we were not to crank the siren until we were past the Peshawbestown church.

Victorious, Jack, and I hurried back to the fire station and, after relaying the good news to the operator, drove directly to the picnic site on Ingalls Bay.

The load of kids did heed the rules, at least in name. I did not speed, and we waited until passing the church to crank up the siren, although the cranking was enthusiastic and began about two feet past the church. The ride was a thrilling success, and at the end Jack Stephenson drove for a few minutes, to show his mother the engine.

Carl Basler, being a good man, led our entire crew to the Omena Ice Cream Parlor, run by Pete Anderson, where he promised a round of sundaes.
Most of us were still in the midst of our then current favorite, chocolate ice cream with marshmallow sauce, when a county police car roared up, siren screaming.
The mayor, with a deputy in tow, stepped out and announced the arrest of Jack Stephenson and me. The charge: stealing the Suttons Bay fire engine.”

Yes, they went to jail, and were placed in a cell with one other prisoner being held for catching an under-sized bluegill and refusing to pay the fine. Sam, the other prisoner, assured them that minors could not be arrested without a warrant, and that politics was behind the whole matter. Sure enough, about nine o’clock they heard knocking on the outside wall. When they looked outside, they saw the “entire contingent from the picnic” who passed them cookies as well as well as loaves of bread with saw blades inside…and soon the deputy came in to tell them they were being released into the custody of their parents.

And as it turned out, Sam was right, a general election was coming up in November, and some residents of Suttons Bay were giving the mayor a hard time letting the ‘resorter kids’ play with their fire engine. Charges were dropped, and the whole episode forgotten, except perhaps on Christmas Eve when Santa comes riding up from Sutton’s Bay into Omena on the back of a fire truck passing out presents and cookies to all.

Merry Christmas everyone!

Courtesy of Betty Craker Armstrong and Bobbi Dame in Sprague’s History of Grand Traverse and Leelanau Counties, Michigan; Smithsonian Magazine, Jim Center (2001) in “Omena, A Place In Time” by Amanda Holmes, Wikipedia, Chelsea Follett, in Real Clear History