34 years ago today, at 6: 32 pm. Ramsey suffered its largest fire. The Ramsey Lumber Co. on Island Rd. Initial call came in as a brush fire but first unit in quickly realized it was the lumber sheds on fire. The first unit in was engine 435 which cut the lock on the gate and pulled down the alley between the 300 ft. long buildings. Within minutes the fire raced through the initial fire building, jumped the ally and consumed the building on the other side of the crew. The crew was momentarily trapped and abandoned the Engine. A firefighter went back in to save the engine which had extensive heat damage but pumped 2 deck guns for the entire fire. The heat from the fire was so intense that telephone poles along the tracks were burning, a NJ Transit train that passed by before the tracks were closed suffered heat damage and the house in the High St cul- de - sac ( across the tracks )had the siding melt off. The fire was out in 4 hours. 24 towns from Bergen County and Rockland County N.Y. were called to assist. Ramsey units stayed on the scene most of the next day.