1915 - 1920

A motorized tractor was added to the horse-drawn water tower in 1918. Most of the horse-drawn apparatus had been replaced with motorized apparatus by 1919.

Another annexation in 1918 brought Houston Heights, a community north of the city, into the city limits. It had two fire stations, one with the city hall and jail at W. 12th and Yale, and the other station on West 18th and Nicholson. The city hall building became Fire Station No. 14 after the annexation. The other station became Fire Station 13.

Fire Station 15 was built the same year at Houston Avenue and North Main. It opened as a hose company.

The first refinery was built in Houston in 1918 by Sinclair Refinery. It sparked the construction of seven more refineries over the following decade.

On August 18, 1918, Lucey Manufacturing plant at 1118 Carr Street caught fire and spread to 20 nearby houses before firefighters could bring the fire under control; and in October the trestle over Main Street near Brooks burned. The trestle supported multiple tracks of Southern Pacific's railyard. Thick black smoke poured from the tunnel and blanketed the city for two days.

Chief Seibert believed in training and initiated a training facility at Fire Station No. 2. The facility was not completed before a new fire chief replaced him.

Another idea he pushed was a separate water system for firefighting. The system would be under greater pressure than the domestic water system. Some cities were adding such water systems at the time. He lobbied for the costly separate water system but failed to convince city fathers.

The fire force had expanded to 179 firefighters by the end of Seibert's tenure. There were only 105 men when he became fire chief.

W. P. Wells was picked to replaced Fire Chief Seibert after voters elected Earl Amerman as mayor at the city election in late 1918. Also elected was a new fire commissioner, Allie Anderson, a former assistant chief of the fire department.

Both Chief Wells and the fire commissioner faced three major fires in their first year: 1) the Central High School at Rusk and Austin on March 18 at a loss of $175,000; 2) the Merchant's Cotton Plant at the foot of Middle Street which spread to several adjacent houses; and 3) the Burton Lumber Company at Preston and Dowling on September 2. The first hose line laid to the lumberyard burned up before firefighters were able to get water. The fire was so intense that firefighters had to direct their hose streams. They were laying in ditches to shield them from the heat.

The following year (1919) fires did not let up. A fire on September 8 destroyed the Steinberg-Maas Dry Goods at 914 Wood, followed by a fire on December 7 that ravaged the shops of the Southern Pacific Railroad at 1300 Hardy Street. Damage from the huge railroad shop fire was estimated at more than $500,000. Another fire six days later destroyed the Price Booker Manufacturing Company in the 2400 block of what is now Center Street.

In August, 1919, Houston firefighters again formed a union affiliated with the International Association of Fire Fighters, Local 213. (Another reference said the union was associated with the American Federation of Labor, not the IAFF.) The officers of the union were: E.S. McAnally, president; Joe Mayo, vice president; J.H. Davidson, secretary; A.H. Roper, treasurer; and D.C. King, George Richardson, John Ward, trustees.