After our recent fire at 13th and H Streets involving a historical Victorian building, I thought about not only the history of that building, but the history of the Sacramento Fire Department. When this particular building was built, almost 100 years ago, the Sacramento Fire Department was already one of the nation’s oldest Fire Departments.
The Sacramento Fire Department has a very rich history! The Sacramento Fire Department was established on February 5, 1850 when California’s first Fire Company was organized, Mutual Hook and Ladder Company #1. This first Fire Truck was a hand drawn piece of apparatus. The Sacramento Fire Department was an all volunteer force then, much like the rest of the nation’s Fire Departments. None of the apparatus was motorized; it was either hand or horse drawn.
The Fire Department grew from here and in 1872 the State Legislature passed a bill creating a paid Sacramento Fire Department. One reason for creating a paid department was that the Legislature wanted a reliable firefighting force to protect the State Capitol building. It was a good thing to establish this “new” type of Fire Department. Sacramento, like many other cities of that era, had many devastating fires.
Most residents of Sacramento know that we sit at the confluence of two mighty rivers and that Sacramento is prone to flooding. But what a lot of people don’t realize is that Sacramento also burned! There were many conflagrations in the early days of Sacramento. And fires today continue to threaten our City.
Back in the early days of the Sacramento Fire Department, the job as a Firefighter was pretty one dimensional, they fought fires! Today the department does much more. We still fight fires, and in Sacramento we fight a lot of them! Our EMT’s and Paramedics render high quality medical aid and transport patients to area hospitals. We are trained and respond to a variety of our City and Nation’s emergencies. Heavy Rescue, Swift Water Rescue, Hazardous Materials Response, Urban Search and Rescue, High and Low Angle Rescue, Wild Land fires, and much, much more. We also have Public Education and Fire Prevention programs.
The Sacramento Fire Department has not really grown much over the past 50 years, in terms of manpower, but our responsibilities have definitely increased! The fire at H Street made me realize the significance of our lengthy history and that we live and work in a very historical city. If you are interested in the history of our Fire Department, I would recommend the book; “Memories of the Fire Service’, written in 1941 by Sacramento Fire Captain Harvey Michael Heiser. Also visit the site of our “Pioneer Mutual Hook and Ladder Society” at http://www.rcip.com/pmhls/
