Long before smartphones and 911, Livingston residents relied on 18 metal rings scattered around town — strike one with a hammer, and your neighbors knew a fire had broken out. That detail, and hundreds like it, fill a new 448-page book by Tom Cooney, president of the Livingston Fire Department for the past 25 years. He'll talk about it at the Livingston Public Library on Thursday, July 16, from 2 to 3 p.m.

"History Earned: Livingston History Through the Lens of the Volunteer Fire Department" traces the town from its rural roots to today, built from every document, photo and relic stored at fire headquarters, decades of the West Essex Tribune, and records pulled from libraries and historical societies across New Jersey. Cooney started the research ahead of the department's 100th anniversary in 2021, but the pandemic pushed publication back years.

Cooney joined the department in 1983 and served alongside members who'd been there since the 1920s — old enough to remember riding in the LFD's first fire truck, a Reo Chassis engine nicknamed "Mary Ann," bought by the Township Committee in 1923 for $3,500.

"Many early firemen and their families were involved in building the community decades, even centuries before a fire department existed," Cooney wrote in the book's preface. "Once formed, firemen were involved in every facet of life here, members of every church, every organization, holding elected office, and playing roles in every major event."

The Livingston Fire Department formed in November 1921, after a meeting of the Livingston Gun Club, at a time when the town had no organized fire protection at all — just buckets and wells. One of the original 18 alarm rings still survives at the Force Homestead Museum; another sits at Fire Headquarters on South Livingston Avenue, where the department has operated since 1929.

Library Director Amy Babcock put it simply: the story of Livingston can't really be told without telling the story of its volunteer firefighters.

Want to go?

The talk is free, open to all ages, and requires no registration. Attendees can ask questions and buy copies of the book on-site; it's also available through the Bergen County Cooperative Library System. The library is at 10 Robert Harp Dr., Livingston. Call (973) 992-4600 for details.