| Of course, through the years fires
have made their mark on this Railroad town. Early
on fires were hard to manage with hand-carts and manual
pumps. In 1888 a blaze roared through the Railroad
bunkhouses and into the dry prairie. It took three
days to bring it under control. Four years later
the "Eastside Fire" took its toll burning 50% of downtown
Pocatello. The only thing that stopped it was a crate
of dynamite, used to blow up buildings to form a fire break. Another
fire originating in Ed Grant's Saloon eventually brought
a quarter of the "Westside" into smoldering ash. |
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Oliver L Cleveland was the organizer
of the department, and acted as its first supervisor representing
the town council, but Al Miller, a barber, was appointed
as the first official chief in 1890-1893. |
| In June of 1901, the fire chief,
assistant chief, and secretary became full-time paid city
employees. Fire Chief made $100/ month; Assistant Chief
made $25/ month; and Secretary made $25/ month. The other
firefighters were to divide $200/ month among 42 of them. The first paid chief was
Ben Joseph from 1901-1910. |
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The fire department took over the
ambulance service for all of Bannock County in 1978 and
has donned many other responsibilities as well. 1991 brought
the Region VI Hazardous Materials Response Unit to Pocatello,
which responds in an 8 county area of southeast Idaho but
can respond anywhere in the state. In 2006 the State
funded and trained individuals to respond as an Urban
Search and rescue team in conjunction with the Idaho
Falls Fire Department. |
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