Columbia Engine Company No. 1 is the only engine company in the Oceanside Fire Department. Oceanside is a community on the South Shore of Long Island, New York with approximately 50,000 residents. The firehouse is located on 26 Smith Street in the center of Oceanside; hence Columbia was nicknamed "The Pride of Midtown".
The company was first organized in the fall of 1902 when Mr. Sanford Davison and his associates applied to the State of New York for a charter on November 1st of that year. The first official meeting was held on December 6th, 1902 and the company's charter was granted February 18th 1903. In 1905, the Poole family donated a triangular plot of land on Lincoln Avenue. Later that year, Columbia's first firehouse was erected. Columbia has the distinction of operating the first motorized fire apparatus on the South Shore, a Matthewson Wagon that was purchased in 1913. In 1931, Columbia purchased a plot of land on Smith Street. Twenty years later, Columbia built a modern spacious firehouse on that land. The firehouse was also used as the office for the Oceanside Fire Chiefs, the Fire District alarm system, and the dispatcher's office. This firehouse is the same building that Columbia operates out of this day.
Currently, in operation at Columbia are a 2006 and a 1998 Pierce Engine, unit numbers 243 and 249, respectively.