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Golden History Moment
The Colorado Transcript spent years campaigning for the purchase of a fire truck. In the 19-teens, the fire department still used carts that had to be pulled by hand. Moreover, the fire department was having trouble attracting enough volunteers to pull those carts. In 1917, Alderman Dollison urged council to buy a truck to replace the “man-killing cart.”
During the last past seven or eight years Golden has spread her boundaries considerably and it is very likely that these boundaries will extend still further in the next few years. Something must be done to give the people who invest their money in homes in the outlying districts adequate fire protection. It is ridiculous to even think that a number of men could get to a fire at the end of Ford street or say on the hill in time to any effective work with the present fire apparatus. A motor fire truck will give the outlying districts about 50 per cent better fire protection to say nothing of having men on the scene fresh and able to work if called upon.
Colorado Transcript – April 26, 1917
104 Years Ago
The December 27, 1917 Colorado Transcript included an article describing several recent fire alarms. Three had occurred in the previous week. Each paragraph ended with the statement “Let’s Have a Fire Truck.”
The first alarm that week was a 7AM basement fire in the W. S. Staples residence on South Arapahoe Street.
The second was a prairie fire in the vicinity of the School of Mines testing plant. “A large area was burned over, and the alarm was turned in when people near the head of Twelfth street feared the fire might spread to the powder magazine near the foot of the mountains. The fire was finally beaten out by volunteers.”
The third destroyed a barn belonging to Charles Dollison. It was believed that chicken thieves had done it, to cover their tracks. The Fire Department prevented the flames from spreading to the neighboring Rock Mill warehouse.
The campaign continued for another year. In January of 1919, a residential fire at 18th and Ford Street finally turned the tide. The building, furniture, and personal belongings of a family were destroyed, while the family escaped in their nightclothes.
Owing to the cracked fire bell and poor fire fighting equipment, it was at least a half hour before the few citizens who responded to the fire alarm could get a hose cart to the scene and get a stream of water on the blaze. By that time the entire rear of the building was ablaze and the flames were breaking out of the roof. Luckily, there was no wind blowing, and a number of frame houses near-by were saved. With a fire truck, which would have prevented a great delay in getting the fire under control, the house and most of the furniture could have been saved.
Colorado Transcript – January 9, 1919
Another article in the same issue stated that the cracked bell at the central fire station wasn’t the only problem. The bell at the Loveland station (in Goosetown) was in fine shape, but only two men responded. “These two men tried to pull the cart but became disgusted at not securing any help and quit.”
City Council approved the purchase of a fire truck at the January 16, 1919 meeting. They placed the order with the Julius Pearse Fire Dept. Supply Co. in Denver.
Thanks to the Golden History Museum for providing the online cache of historic Transcripts, and to the Golden Transcript for documenting our history since 1866!
