The earliest tragic fire of large proportion in the city was the burning on Sunday evening, January 27th, 1884 of the Lewis Hall in which the Brigham Young Academy classes were conducted, located on Third West and Center Street. A small confectionery and book store adjoining the Lewis Building was torn down to prevent the flames from spreading. August Groneman, a handcart pioneer of 1858 and owner of the confectionery, was among those who helped to fight the fire in subzero weather. He later died of pneumonia as a direct result of the exposure which he suffered at the time.

 

This tragedy prompted the Mayor of Provo, Wilson H. Dusenberry to suggest to the City Council the following evening at their meeting, the advisability of creating a fire department for the city. A committee was appointed and shortly thereafter reported to the council that a hand powered fire engine and hose could be purchased for $1,500.00. The committee was authorized to make the purchase, but for some reason no action was taken at that time.

 

It was not until 1890, under the administration of Mayor John E. Booth, that Provo's first volunteer fire department was created On the 13th day of March of that year. Marshall John A. Brown was appointed Chief with Joseph Cheever as Assistant chief, and Hyrum Hatton as Engineer. Other members of the volunteer group were: John Martin, Phillip Bachman, Jerry Cluff, William S. Holdaway, Joseph S. Smith, William Elliott, Henry Elliott, Willard Woodhead, Leo Halladay, Wren Wilkins, and David Loveless.

 

The city spent $4,000 for a La France horse-drawn steam fire engine, and a secondhand man-pulled hose cart, which they purchased from the city of Ogden, as well as a team of horses and other fire fighting equipment. At the test of the engine, eighty pounds of steam was generated in six and a half minutes, and water was thrown into the air thirty feet higher than the East Co-op building, located on the southwest corner of the Knight Block.

 

As the city had no waterworks the water was obtained from a box placed in a ditch at the-northeast corner of the Tabernacle Block. In another test, the engine was taken to the Old Mill Race, a large stream running from north to south along Second West Street. Here the water was pumped through the hose up hill for a block east and shot over the three-story Cosmopolitan Hotel at First West and Center Street. This building later became Hank Smith's Pool Hall, and is now a ladies dress shop (1958).

 

When the volunteer department was first started, the fire alarm bell was placed over the Old Tabernacle, and the fire team was kept in the old tithing barn located on First East and Center Street, and the fire engine and hose cart were kept in the old jail. 

 

The men began to drill soon after the equipment arrived. In an account of one of their first drills, they made a run to the Proctor Academy, a Presbyterian Private School, which is now known as the Elks' Lodge, located at 84 South First West Street. They were ready to throw water on their object building in eight minutes; however, the water did not reach the hose end for a few minutes later because of difficulty in getting up steam.

 

The new fire department did not have to wait long for their first fire. At three minutes after six, according to the watch of Dr. H.S. Pyne, a prominent citizen of the time, on the Ilth day of July, 1890, came the cry of fire, and a column of smoke was seen ascending from Mr. R. Brereton's barn located in the First Ward.

 

At the time of the fire, the fire team was being used on the sprinkling wagon, a very necessary item for a city with unpaved streets. The team was quickly transferred to the fire engine, and they rattled off to the fire. The hose cart was run out by some of the men and soon the department was at the scene of the fire.

 

A transfer of the engine had to be made from the ditch to the west of the city block wherein the barn was located, to a ditch at the east of the block as there was not enough water in the west ditch. The first stream of water, according to Dr, Pyne's watch, was thrown onto the fire at 6:15, taking twelve minutes to go through the performance recounted above.

 

The boys considered they had made very good time under the circumstances. As the hot July weather had made everything very dry, the barn was completely destroyed, but the flames were prevented from extending to surrounding buildings. Twenty-eight volunteers fought the fire for four hours. 

 

When they reached there, they found the citizens panic stricken, however, they began fighting the blaze in fine style and after long hours they had it under control. The people of Springville were very appreciative of the fine work done, and in the early morning hours, according to the account written by C. 0. Jensen in his "History of Provo", they took the boys to "Beefsteak" Harrison's Hotel and gave them the best he had. Later on, Springville City Officials passed resolutions thanking the volunteer department for their help and presented them with a check for $50.00.

 

The group called their organization "Provo Volunteer Hose and Engine Company Number One", and they wore very distinctive uniforms which they purchased about April of 1902. A trophy case containing a jacket, cap, and initialed belt belonging to Hyrum Hatton, Engineer of the first volunteers of 1890, was presented to the Fire Department by his daughter in November of 1952, and was hung in the Fire Station as a memory to the first volunteer fire squadron. The wool and dye contained in the jacket were part of the first production of the Provo Woolen Mills (later, in 1913, called the Knight Woolen Mills), an early Provo industry.  

 

The Volunteers held their meetings each week and had very strict regulations as to attendance. Being absent without excuse upon only a few occasions was cause for dismissal. Also upon the option of the Chief in charge, any member guilty of drunkenness could be discharged. From the minutes kept of their meetings, it would appear that theirs was a very active group, participating in many civic affairs, and being very much in the public eye. For many years, they posted a fireman at each performance held at the very popular Provo Opera House, without charge of course, and the men were paid for their assigned attendance.

 

Also that first year, the firemen were not to be outdone in civic affairs as in March of 1891, they decided to have a band, so they adopted a local band known as the "Enterprise Band" and changed the name to the "Firemen's Band". The band played at the parties given by the firemen and was considered at that time to be one of the most valuable assets to the organization. The firemen had no means of raising money to support the organization except through dances and entertainment given, or donations made by the people whose places had been saved through this fire fighting organization.

 

Occasionally the boys would also arrange short excursions, and in June of 1891, arrangements were made for an outing to the Provo Lake Resort where the firemen and their friends assembled to celebrate the accomplishments of their first year.

 

In a picture of this first fire fighting group of thirteen men, it is apparent that the so-called "handlebar" mustache was the style of the times as nearly all of them supported a heavy upper lip growth of whiskers modeled in the handlebar fashion.

 

During the years of 1890 and 1891, the firemen received a great deal of practice as there were twenty-one fire alarms in eighteen months. Barns and haystacks were the chief objects of attack. It was believed that the fires were purposely set, but the city sleuths were unable to find any guilty parties.

 

Because of the use of the fire team on the sprinkling wagon and other jobs, and not having the fire horses accessible when the fire alarms rang, there was dissatisfaction among the men, and in April of 1892, the Fire Chief, J. E. Cheever, who had succeeded Chief John A. Brown in 1891, together with several other firemen tendered the City Officials their resignations. Mr. L. S. Glazier was made Chief and was hired full time by the City.

 

In 1900, a bound record book was purchased for the keeping of minutes and roll call of the volunteers. Before this time, there was a record book kept, but it was lost presumably when the first fire hall was razed.

 

In a write-up in the local press dated September 10, 1912, covering the department's advances up to that time, a list of men's names were printed who had served as volunteer firemen, including the thirteen original members. This is the only account on record of these men's service, as the first record book of the Volunteer Company was lost.

 

These men were: Irving Pratt, Hyrum Johnson, William Hill, S. T. Kershaw, David Bennett, H. J. Maiben, Henry Cheever, C.E. Young, John Coltrin, George Ross, J. M. Jensen, Charles Dorius, H. S. McCullough, Heber Booth, Sam Cheever, T. C. Swain, John Stagg, Charles Gray, Henry Allison, A. E. Buckerl, Angus Beebe, T. H. Hoy, C. E. Malinquist, Joseph Arrowsmith, T. L. Copan, Sam T. Jones, A. E. Ford, Dell Wright, Ed Bunnell, John Watson, R. Davis, and Felix Bachman. It must be presumed that these men served prior to the year 1900 as their names do not appear in the record book that was kept beginning that year.