Port Jervis FD pays tribute to 50 chiefs that have served since 1858 founding year
Photo by Sharon E. SiegelPort Jervis Fire Department pays tribute to late past chiefs, July 10, 2026.
Photo by Sharon E. SiegelPort Jervis Fire Department's first Chief Jacob Brandt in the year the department was founed -- 1858
Photo by Sharon E. SiegelPort Jervis Fire Department pays tribute to late past chiefs, July 10, 2026.
Photo by Sharon E. SiegelPort Jervis Fire Department pays tribute to late past chiefs, July 10, 2026.
Photo by Sharon E. SiegelPort Jervis Fire Department pays tribute to late past chiefs, July 10, 2026.
PORT JERVIS, NY – Port Jervis Fire Department members, along with city officials and members of the community, visited late past fire chief graves in multiple local cemeteries during their 2026 annual Parade Week events. The service of these 40 late past-chiefs dates back to the department’s founding in 1858. Paying graveside tribute has been a longtime tradition, started by Past PJFD Secretary Dick Drew, and takes place on the eve of the department’s annual Inspection Day Parade each July.
To date, the department has had 50 chiefs in all; 10 living current and/or past chiefs and 40 late chiefs. Many of the 10 living chiefs took part in this year’s chief grave visits and reading of the name of each late chief.
The ten PJFD living chiefs and terms of chief service are: Michael Ercole Innella: 1984-1987, James William Rohner, Jr.: 1988-1987, Russell Robert Potter: 1991-1997, Joseph John Kowal: 1998-1999 and 2006-2009, James Bernard Fuller: 2010-2011, Jeffrey S. Rhoades: 2011-2015, Frank William Fuller III: 2016-2017, Dominic Cicalese: 2018-2021, Keith M. Brown: 2022-2025, Anthony W. Fuller: 2022-Present. There are also two current assistant chiefs: 1st Assistant Chief Jeffrey D. Lewis and 2nd Assistant Chief Christopher D. Southard.
The 40 PJFD late chiefs, burial location, and terms of chief service are as follows:
Port Jervis Fire Department Late Chiefs by cemetery location:
Laurel Grove Cemetery, Port Jervis, NY: Jacob Brenner Brandt: 1858, Charles Wesley Douglass: 1859-1860, James Bertram Taynton: 1862, Stephen T. Roberts: 1863, Luther H. Beckwith: 1865, Luke Staggers Rosencrance: 1868-1869, William Edward McCormick: 1875, Charles Henry Terbell: 1876-1879 and 1885-1886, James McDougall: 1878-1879, Horace Greeley Lee: 1880-1882, Harry C. Nichols: 1887, Charles Ivory Terwilliger: 1888, Jacob Hauber: 1891, Claude Gaillard, Jr.: 1892, Charles C. Boyd: 1894, Abram Dorrance Horn: 1895-1898, Joseph Harding: 1899 and 1903 and 1908-1911, Peter C. Rutan: 1904-1907, Howard Wheat: 1912-1936, Frederick Charles Harding: 1937-1940
St. Mary’s Cemetery, Port Jervis, NY: Thomas Edward Birmingham: 1883-1884, Patrick J. Donahue: 1889-1890, John James Carey: 1893, James Lester Buchanan: 1942-1953, Robert Bruce Dunn: 1980-1983, Michael James Cicalese: 2002-2004
Cuddebackville, NY Rural Valley Cemetery: Franklyn John Gordon: 1954-1957, Donald Edgar DeVore, Sr.: 1972-1975
Sparrowbush, NY Hillside Cemetery: Roscoe Burrel Case: 1958-1959, Douglas Hamilton Moore: 1966-1967, John Richard Hosking: 1968-1971, John William Launt: 2000-2001, Donald E. DeVore, Jr.: 2004-2005
Matamoras, PA Pine Grove Cemetery: Charles F. Baumgardner, Sr.: 1976-1979
Waterbury or New Haven, CT Cemetery: Thomas Holt: 1861 and 1866-1867 and 1875
Lockport, NY Niagara County Almshouse Cemetery: Alexander Holmes Simpson 1864
Honesdale, NY Glen Dyberry Cemetery: Leopold Fuerth: 1870-1873
Queens, NY Lutheran Cemetery: Anthony Lumpp: 1900-1902
Barryville, NY Montoza Cemetery: Robert Henry Miller: 1941
Winchester, VA Mount Hebron Cemetery: Fred Raymond Harding: 1960-1965
No information from the author.