Old Missoula

Man, Horse, Motor Power City Fire Gear

There’s something about a fire engine.

It can be hand-drawn, steam or motor propelled, but it always attracts the curious and sets off an automatic alarm in almost everyone.

Missoula’s first piece of such equipment was a hand-drawn hose reel which was used here sometime before 1891. The first horse-drawn fire apparatus was a Wayne hosewagon, purchased in 1889 and named the C. P. Higgins. It was first drawn by a popular team named Prince and Snap. The 1919 Peterson Drug fire saw it in use for the last time.

Steam Fire Fighting

The first steam engine used in Missoula for firefighting was a piece of La France equipment which bowed out of the picture in 1908. It fought fires no more, but from 1914 to 1923 its boiler heated the fire station.

A $3,750 Nott engine purchased in 1905 was used at the time of the 1908 flood to pump water out of the heating plant at the north end of the Higgins Avenue Bridge.

Tall Fighting

As Missoula grew, its buildings grew. And when they caught fire, fighters had to reach for the sky. They accomplished this in early years with a hand-drawn laddertruck. The original truck was rebuilt to be drawn by a single horse and when fire alarms were sounded, a horse from Joe Nagel’s livery stable would be rushed across the street, then hitched to the truck.

This was all well – theoretically. But the horse was temperamental, and the occasion rare when horse, fireman and truck reached a fire.

Motors at Last

A motor-driven piece of equipment appeared in 1911 to help fire fighters become masters of the enemy. This fire truck was second in the state only to the Great Falls fire truck which arrived in 1910.

In 1915 Fred Sterling’s Stevens-Duryea was purchased and rebuilt for the hauling of the Seagrave ladder truck. With the appearance of an American La France triple combination in 1920, the Stevens was junked.

In 1928 a triple combination known as type 91 (painted red, of course) was placed in service. A 500-gallon Kenworth pumper was purchased in October 1942, and in 1947 the department received a 750-gallon Seagrave pumper truck and a 1,000-gallon pumper-aerial combination Seagrave truck with an 85-foot ladder. Fire vehicles were radio equipped in March 1951.

The Chiefs

Without chiefs and firemen, however, fire engines are just curious red vehicles.

The first chief of the fire department, it is believed, was Capt. C. P. Higgins, one of Missoula’s founders. Apparently, he was succeeded by Bob Mercer, and in 1891 Robert S. Mentrum was elected. Mentrum was to become chief of the Anaconda fire department and eventually state fire marshal.

Other fire chiefs and the years of their appointments have been T. Robert Burger, 1898; E. W. Walling, 1900; Albert H. May, 1902; A. K. (Hard Times) Fox, 1910; Peter F. Loffnes, 1912; James T. Cranney, 1919; A. L. Quinn, 1940; Clare P. Kern, 1947; and Herbert Wohl, Dec. 15, 1959. Chief Kern, who retired in 1959, had been a member of the department since 1914.

Volunteers

Previous to the establishment of a full paid department in 1911, some of the men who served as volunteer firemen were Samuel Adams, George Beckwith, E. H. Boos, Hugh Campbell, C. H. Christensen, Joseph Deschamps, A. K. Fox, John Gibson, Arthur Higgins, Hugh Kennedy, Fritz Koopman, Al Lackman, J. W. Lister, W. W. McCormick, Clarence Prescott, John Pope, A. L. Stone, James A. Walsh, Henry Wolf and Horace Worden.

The fire department was housed in an old building at the intersection of Stevens and West Main streets until 1954. This structure was erected in 1887 for approximately $4,000 as a city hall.

It housed city offices, the fire and police departments, and the city jail. Later the building was made available for the sole use of the fire department when the city hall on Woody street was completed.

Alarm

Also in use until 1954 was the city alarm system installed in 1912. The brass linkages and gears actuated by 24 call boxes mounted on posts throughout the city brought in more than 100 calls in 1919, more than 200 in 1932 and 309 in 1954.

In 1954 the fire department moved into two new stations erected after taxpayers voted to approve a $325,000 bond proposal in March 1953. The $175,000 headquarters fire station was erected at West Pine and Stevens streets, and a South Side substation was located at Mount avenue and Park street. In conjunction with the building program a $11,494.37 fire alarm system was installed.

The South Side substation was not the first south of the river. Following the flood of 1908, a station was built in the 400 block of South 6^th street, but discontinued in May 1912.

Other Than Fires

Of course, engines, fire chiefs, firemen, and fire departments exist to protect the community from fires. But other functions are served aside from the main function.

In one year – 1958 – the department gave oxygen to a sick man who appeared in headquarters, helped the operator of a burning garbage truck, who in compliance with the drive-in trend brought his business to headquarters; rescued a robin that became entangled in a tree, and gave a hand to a young fisherman who was trapped on a pier under the Higgins Avenue Bridge.

Photo with this article

Pride of the Department in 1890s

This horse-drawn steam engine was the latest thing in fire-fighting equipment at the turn of the century, the pride of the Missoula Fire Department. The dog partially visible in the left foreground is believed to be Monkey, pet spaniel of the department from 1886 until his death Feb. 19, 1895. When the big steamer and hose cart went thundering down the street, Monkey was always out front, warning everyone with his shrill bark to clear the way. (Courtesy of Harvey C. Hackman)