The Bedford fire department was formed January 1, 1881 by the Bedford Village Council. In February of 1882, 28 volunteer firefighters were sworn in as members of Bedford Fire Company #1 and operated out of a barn on Woodrow St. using hand-pulled pumps and hose carts and responded to fires when alerted by the sounding of the church bell in the steeple of the Baptist Church. The first fire for Company #1 occurred on April 9, 1882 at a barn and saloon located on Broadway Ave.
Ninety years after that first fire, the only firefighter in Bedford’s history to die in the line of duty, Richard Handyside, succumbed to injuries sustained from a fire he helped battle on March 1, 1972. Richard (Dick) Pierce Handyside was born in 1930 and grew up on Harriman St. He joined the Bedford Fire Department as a volunteer in 1951. In 1963, he became one of the department’s first full-time firefighters as a “driver sergeant” and over time, he rose to the rank of Captain. He died April 18, 1972. He was survived by his wife, Georgia, and their two children.