The City of Plattsburgh's last volunteer fire department, Rescue Hose No. 5, will disband at the end of the year, done in by a lack of funding and dwindling membership, issues with which the organization has struggled for more than 25 years.

The city has been the main financier of the department, but the fire company just couldn't survive the latest round of cost-cutting. And with the department responding to emergencies in the county far more times than in the city, it was on the bubble.

The department's equipment will be shared by two other volunteer fire companies.

Chartered by the then-Village of Plattsburgh in 1895, it was one of several volunteer firefighting companies covering the village in the old days. The volunteers were subsequently supplanted by the Plattsburgh Fire Department, a paid contingent that exists today.

The Hosers, as they were affectionately known in the fire service, reinvented themselves in 1981. Previously, it had been a truck company. But the group sold its pumper truck and its building on South Platt Street in the late 1970s, and it was inactive until then-Fire Chief William Vogt embarked on a mission to reorganize the group as an air company.

Firefighters were using self-contained breathing apparatus (SCBA) at every structure fire, and, when their air bottles emptied, they cast the devices aside and continued fighting the blaze. They'd gather them up after the fire was out and truck them to Cahill's Sports at the North Country Shopping Center, the closest air-refill station. The store catered to SCUBA divers, mostly, but firefighters were able to take advantage of the service -- for a price.

Rescue Hose 5 purchased a truck and outfitted it with large compressed-air bottles and air-filling equipment to recharge the SCBA bottles at the site of an emergency. It was the first mobile air-supply truck in New York state. The company eventually became a member of the Clinton County Mutual Aid System and went to every structure fire in Clinton County, sometimes even venturing to Essex County, Vermont and Quebec.

The volunteers were so busy, they bought a second truck, recruited more members and became a necessity in Clinton County's fire service.

But the company, since 1981, has always struggled with finances and manpower. And its budget for housing, gasoline, training and all-important liability insurance was paid for by city taxpayers. In past years, the budget was supplemented by donations from other volunteer fire companies in the county. But it clearly wasn't enough.

In the city's scheme to cut expenses, the Hosers were expendable, but their service wasn't. South Plattsburgh and Mooers volunteer fire departments will split the Rescue Hose 5 resources, each getting a mobile air truck and peripheral items. What's left of the fire company's members will be invited to join other fire departments. And they'll train others in the intricacies of safe air-supply practices.

Rescue Hose 5 has played an important role in the evolution of local firefighting strategies and techniques for over a century. We owe them a deep debt.