- Police/Fire - Janesville Sesquicentennial
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City's first fire station, which also
housed city government, was built in 1876. |
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- Bucket brigade fought Janesville's early fires
- It took a few nasty fires in this community of lantern-lit,
wooden
- buildings to persuade early settlers they needed organized
protection.
- Janesville's first major fire was on May 7, 1848, at the
William
- HODSON Brewery on North Main Street. The fire, which
also wiped out HODSON's home, carried a $10,000 loss.
- A second disaster struck two years later. The RICHARDSON
Mill,
- on the raceway, was destroyed by fire. By 1852, Janesville's
residents heeded lessons reaped from those catastrophes.
- The result was an "organized bucket brigade," a
team of men led by
- Robert CHRISTIE. Previously, all settlers rushed to
fires with pail in hand yelling "fire" along the way.
- Commandeered now by CHRISTIE, the brigade relied on
a home-
- made hand pump to speed up pail water shuttling and made
a hook and ladder apparatus. For want of a better place, the
equipment was stored behind the R. M. BOSTWICK store on
Main Street.
- It wasn't until 1853, however, when the settlement became
a city that
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- W. T. HOPKINS was appointed the first fire marshal.
- HOPKINS and his "bucket brigade" got their
first real workout on election night in April 1853 when
- the "STEVENS House was destroyed by fire during
one of [the] most violent gales of wind ever experienced here,"
historical accounts said.
- The hotel fire overwhelmed the brigade and its makeshift
equipment, and later stirred common
- council vows to improve fire protection and apparatus. Talk
turned to action in 1854 and 1855.
- The city organized two official units of firefighters: The
Rock River No. 1, with Frank
- LAWRENCE as foreman, and the Water Witch No. 2, under
William KEMP.
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- DOLSON first chief
- Gilbert DOLSON was elected the city's first fire chief,
and had two fire stations built - one on Main
- Street and the other on North River Street - to house two,
new fire engines the city purchased.
- The horseless, Button hand engines arrived by rail to replace
homemade equipment on June 25,
- 1855. This date generally is accepted as the formal organization
of the Janesville Fire Department.
- Naturally, the city held a parade.
- Fireman paraded down streets to show off their new rig, wearing
leather helmets, red shirts and
- black pants, red-topped boots and brass belt buckles bearing
the name of their fire company.
- Other companies followed: The Rescue Hook and Ladder Company
No. 1, headed by Joseph
- ROTHCHILDS and located in a frame building behind
the new Hyatt House on Franklin Street, after the city got its
first hook and ladder truck in 1857; and the Sack Company, forerunners
of Janesville's Fire Police.
- Fire service in those years cost the city between $200 and
$500, not including cotton and rubber
- hose purchase costs. Members, however, contributed almost
twice that amount yearly to their companies for maintenance.
- All went reasonably well until the fire department, including
its chief engineer, went to war in 1861.
- Civil War enlistees signed in as Company G but were nicknamed
to Janesville Fire Zouaves.
- Company G included the department's "best, and so crippled
the efficiency of the working force that the companies were,
during the close of the struggle, almost good for nothing."
- In fact, the Rock River Company was ordered disbanded in
1861 after its men disobeyed orders
- and took their engine to Monroe's Fourth of July parade.
They reorganized, however, under the name Washington Company
No. 3.
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- Department weakens
- The department continued to weaken and diminish in numbers,
historical accounts said, until after the
- state's grandest hotel, The Hyatt House, burned down on Jan.
12, 1867. A maid, Maggie EMERSON, perished. Structural
loss was a whopping $140,000.
- Early reports of the Hyatt House fire said engines froze
up, but the chief maintained his men lacked
- strength to work the "brakes" on hand pumps, rendering
the machines useless.
- The city clamored for steam-fired rigs, finally purchasing
two in August 1868 - one, a Silsby rotary
- and the other a Button piston. They went into service Sept.
27, 1868, and so did volunteers' horses to pull them.
- Between 1868 and 1876, hand held equipment was disposed of.
Horses were bought for fire use.
- A new station was built where the River Street station stood.
- Initially called the "Washington Engine House,"
the two-story building stored a new, Silsby rotary
- steam engine to replace a rundown counterpart; hook and ladder
trucks and hose carts. Later known as Central Station, it had
a hose tower, a stable, fireman and council chamber meeting rooms,
and the city clerk and treasurer's offices.
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- [Photograph; caption reads: A memorial service was held Nov.
11, 1969, at Mount Olivet Cemetery for Bill FINNANE, a
Janesville firefighter who died 10 years earlier in the SCHLUETER
Co. fire on North Main Street. FINNANE's brother, the
Rev. Dan FINNANE, said Mass at the cemetery chapel before
a wreath was placed at the graveside. In attendance were FINNANE's
family, 32 firefighters and a Salvation Army representative.
FINNANE was the first firefighter to die in service since
Edward LICHTFUS was killed March 2, 1925, in the line
of duty. FINNANE died when a fiery wall collapsed on him;
two other firemen were hurt - Paul FINLEY, who later became
deputy chief and has since retired, and Lt. John SHEA.]
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- Firemen have long tradition
- Departmental changes in 1877 and 1888, through the work of
chiefs John C. SPENCER and
- Henry BLUNK, were as fiery as their steam engines
were:
- The fire alarm telegraph system was introduced so news of
fires in the city would gong in the Central Station tower from
one of 20 different street corners.
- Janesville's water works system, complete with 180 hydrants,
was put into use. And, the city's automatic sprinkler system
was installed inside the Janesville Cotton Factory to cut potential
fire loss in half.
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- The volunteer system dissolved and the fire department was
reduced to a minimum. Despite hot
- debate, salaries and a "call" system were established.
- The chief would get $800 and his assistant, $200. Full-time
men earned $35 monthly and call men -
- part-time employees "called" to fires - were paid
for duty. Cornelius MURPHY, chief from 1919 to 1934, became
the first paid fireman on Jan. 16, 1888. A call man, Ben BARRIAGE,
resigned duties on May 30, 1889, to become a driver for the newly
formed "Janesville Fire Police."
- The city's first aerial hook and ladder was purchased after
the MYERS Opera House was
- destroyed by fire Feb. 20, 1889, and newspaper reporters
contended the building could have been saved with proper apparatus.
- Motorization came into play in 1913 when the department got
its first pumper, a Seagrave. Two
- motorized pumpers, made by American LaFrance, were put to
use in 1917 and 1921. Major changes were spelled out in 1924
when an American LaFrance aerial hook and ladder truck arrived.
- The last two fire horses were sold. Two fire houses were
abandoned and the department was
- centralized at Central Station. Abandoned were the East Side
station, Main and Wall, and Spring Brook House, a building opened
in April 1904 at Jackson Street and Delavan Drive.
- Telephone use sped up reports of fires, cutting use of some
75 alarm boxes by 75 percent. And, a
- two-platoon system for its 24 man force was started. Firemen
worked 24 hours for every 24 off, resulting in an 84-hour work
week.
- Department momentum has not let up since.
- In 1947, firefighters began to work a 73 1/2-hour work week
through the Kelly System and today
- the 90-man force works a 56-hour week which revolves around
24-hour periods.
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- New stations opened
- Central Station was abandoned in September 1957 after new
stations at 303 E. Milwaukee and
- 906 W. Racine opened. These stations and two others, Station
3, opening in 1970 at 435 Crosby, and Station 4, opening in 1980
on East Milwaukee Street, are in use today.
- Ambulance service, previously performed by police, returned
to the fire service in 1957. It relied on
- a used vehicle until it received a 19-foot Chevrolet Bel
Aire in January 1966. The last major change in ambulance service
happened in 1974 when the department trained a core of men to
become paramedics.
- Other recent, significant changes have been the modernization
of fire pumps, gear and firefighting
- techniques. Highlights include:
- Use of pumps to put out 1,250 gallons of water a minute,
rather than 750 gallons. Use of an aerial ladder reaching 100
feet and a 55-foot snorkel; and a five-inch hose with various
waterstream capabilities.
- Use of airmasks and better turnout gear, including hazardous
chemical suits.
- Employment of civilians for dispatch service, and their eventual
merger with the police department in the 1980s to centralize
computerized dispatch and use a 911-emergency telephone system.
- Development of an incident command system at fire scenes,
whereby a command post is utilized to direct engine companies.
Emphasis on training, resulting in a bona fide training facility
now under construction.
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- The fire department has come a long way from wood-based firefighting
concepts of 1852.
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