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Then.. The first fire company was organized February 1, 1866. It was a hook and ladder company. Another fire company was organized October 10, 1867 and on November 27th of that year a Harmony fire engine, purchased by the City, arrived and was put into service. A fire house was constructed at about the same time. For several years the principal method of fighting fires had been to form a bucket brigade and use blankets or other materials soaked in water. Water for fire fighting was obtained from cisterns located at street intersections and maintained by the City. Keeping water in these cisterns seemed to be quite a problem, although they were maintained for fire protection and not for drinking purposes. On December 3, 1872, the City Commission authorized water pipes to be laid from the buildings on Washington Street between Seventh and Eighth to the cistern at the intersection of Eighth and Washington. These pipes were designed to fill the cistern with rain water. In 1874, one button No. 3 fire engine (hand operated), two hundred feet of 2 ½ inch 3-ply rubber hose with couplings were purchased.
Now.. Currently we have a 48 member department which consists of 1 Fire Chief, 1 Fire Marshal, 1 Office Manager, 3 Battalion Chiefs, 6 Captains, 6 Firefighter/Paramedic's and 30 Firefighter/EMTs. We currently have two stations and serve a estimated population of 18,800 with our fire services.
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