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A new position of Fire
Marshal was created in 1910, and the fire department
purchased its last steamer. The steamer was an 1100
gallon-per-minute Metropolitan Steamer.
The Houston Fire
Department received its first grading by the National Board
of Fire Underwriters (NBFU). The purpose of the grading was
to evaluate the capabilities of a city both to prevent fires
and control fires, from which premium rates were established
for fire insurance. The NBFU evaluation found a total of 102
firefighters consisting of the fire chief and two assistant
chiefs, 9 captains, 11 lieutenants, a machinist, 8
engineers, 8 stokers, 22 drivers, and 40 hose &
laddermen. This did not include a number of
supernumeraries, new men being trained by the captains who
would take the place of regular firefighters away from the
station for their meal breaks (three each day) or on their
three days off each month. Even with supernumeraries taking
their place, the firefighters were required to report to all
first alarms downtown and second alarms elsewhere. There
were no vacations, no retirement age, and no
pension.
All appointments and
promotions were made by the fire chief, R. F.
Ollre. His
two assistant chiefs were A. L. Anderson (first assistant)
and F. C. Seibert (second assistant). Both men had been
appointed assistant chiefs in 1909.
Fire apparatus in the
department consisted of 8 steamers, 7 hose wagons, an aerial
ladder and two service trucks, a supply wagon and 2 chemical
wagons. One of the chemical wagons was purchased in 1910 and
was motorized, the other chemical engine was horse drawn.
Two more hose wagons had two horizontal, 60-gallon chemical
tanks aboard and were called combination hose wagons. One
hose reel with 1,000 feet of hose was kept in
reserve.
One to three tons of
McAllister coal in sacks were stored at central station for
fueling the steamers. When fuel was needed at a large fire,
the first empty hose wagon at the scene was sent to load up
at central and distribute the sacks of coal to the working
steamers.
One of the members of
the department, Albert H. Roper, was a machinist and took
care of the fire apparatus. He made minor repairs in a small
shop at the rear of central station. Major repairs were
contracted out. Roper also trained the engineers and stokers
of the department.
There were 48 horses
in the department and four in reserve that were kept in
extra stalls at fire stations 8 and 9. A veterinarian who
cared for sick and injured horses was a member of the fire
department. Horses were hitched up three times a day and on
all alarms. They were exercised daily by saddle.
On September 27, 1910,
several firefighters were injured battling a fire at the
Williams Warehouse. The warehouse, located in the Fifth Ward
at 910 Wood, was filled with carbide.
Firefighters were
earning $60 a month in 1911. Total number of alarms answered
by the department in 1911 reached 999.
The Industrial Cotton
Oil Mill was completely destroyed by fire on January 6,
1912. It was located in the Sixth Ward and was worth
$1-million.
The largest fire in
Houston's history began at half past midnight on February
21, 1912. It was the Great Fifth Ward Fire. The night was
cold because of a stiff norther blowing in. The fire started
in an abandoned house at the corner of Hardy and Opelousas.
Gale-force winds carried embers southward igniting dozens of
wood-shingle roofs. By dawn, the fire had spread all the way
to Buffalo Bayou. It had jumped the bayou where the fire was
finally stopped. Destroyed in the wake of the Fifth Ward
conflagration was a church, a school, 13 industrial plants,
eight stores, and 119 dwellings. Value of the property loss
exceeded $3-million. Miraculously, no one died in the
conflagration nor was severely injured.
 Adding to the
tremendous fire loss in the first half of 1912 was
a fire on May 19 that broke out in the six-story
Stowers Furniture Company (pictured) at Main and
Capitol. The fire spread to the four-story Mason
Building and the three-story Latham Building.
Intense heat from the fires radiated across Capitol
and ignited the Masonic Temple. Firefighters were
successful in holding the blaze to the four
buildings.
One firefighter was
severely injured when a falling beam struck him on the head.
The injured man was Herman J. "Dutch" Wagner, captain of
Fire Station No. 8. He died six days later at St. Joseph
Hospital. Loss from the spectacular fire exceeded one
million dollars.
Fred Seibert replaced
Chief Ollre as fire chief late on April 22, 1913. Houston
had 10 fire stations covering the sixteen square miles of
the city. Population of the city stood at 80,000.
One of Chief Seibert's
first acts in 1913 was to free firefighters from outside
watch. The men rotated for duty at night to scan the
neighborhood for fires. It was brutal duty during the
winter. Civilians were hired to take over the nighttime
watch at all of the fire stations.
H. A. Halverton was
elected fire commissioner in 1913, but Chief Seibert
remained as fire chief.
Houston firefighters
came under city civil service on May 1, 1914. All of the
firefighters were put on probation for one year. Future
firefighters would be given medical, physical, and moral
examinations and serve an eighteen-month probation
period.
On August 14, 1914, an
early morning fire started in the Sewart Building in the 400
block of Main. Illegally-stored combustible liquids were
inside the building. A massive explosion, after fire reached
the illegal material, blew out the south wall. The wall
crashed down onto the adjacent Genora Restaurant. More than
a dozen people were buried under the debris. Two of the
trapped customers were killed, and two more later died of
their injuries.
The assistant fire
chief under a previous administration, Allie Anderson, had
been injured at a fire and left the fire department. He
joined the police department after he recovered from the
injury. He was on routine patrol when the Sewart Building
burned. Anderson quickly assessed the fire and ran into the
Genora Restaurant to warn the occupants to get out. He was
one of the seriously injured.
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