Photograph of Plate Number 4, an image of The Knox Automobile Company of Springfield, debris left after the Chicago Fire in October, Massachusetts is often credited as developing 1822 the first modern fire engine in 1905.* (LOC, Chicago Daily News Collection) The Chicago Fire Department is the second largest in the US, comprised of five districts An Alarm Box from the Time of the Fire made up of 98 stations. In total, the CFD (Greatchicagofire.org) operates 96 fire engines. * Most of these boxes were designed to tap out a Morse-signal to the fire department when activated, telling the firemen where to go. Steam Fire Engine Fred Gund No. 14, from Modern View of Van Buren Street Bridge Report of the Board of Police, in the Fire (HistoricBridges.org) Department, 1871 The fourth bridge at that site, constructed in 1957. Horse Drawn Fire Engine Rushing to Fire, 1900 View from the Van Buren Street Bridge (LOC) (Louis Kurz for Jevne & Almini, 1866, Chicago became the first major city to GreatChicagoFire.org) completely motorize its fire department in Like many bridges, the Van Buren St bridge was 1923. destroyed. View from Van Buren Street Bridge After the Fire (LOC, G. N. Barnard for Lovejoy & Foster, Stereograph, 1871) Chicago Water Tower, ca. 1930 (LOC, Chicago Daily News Collection) The Water Tower and Pumping Station were among the few structures to survive the fire. Train Rolls by Rural Countryside near Gadsden, Alabama (LOC, Highsmith, Carol M.) In 1927, Albert Goodrich became Fire Commissioner for Chicago and began the tradition of using red and green lights on CFD vehicles. Goodrich was an avid sailor and the colors mirror the pattern for ships.* Chicago Fire Department Fire Boat (ChicagoFD.org) Chicago had five fire boats in 1900. Today the CFD fireboats are stationed on Lake Michigan. In the 1850’s, the CFD wasn’t the only fire The “Saturday Night Fire” of October 7-8, 1871 department in Chicago. The Citizen’s Fire (the night before the Great Fire) was known as Brigade (later Fire Insurance Patrol) was in the “Red Flash” by insurance brokers because of operation from 1857-1959.* the combustibility of the local buildings.* Aerial Tower #1is stationed at 419 S Wells St. Fire Scene Steam Fire Engines and Water Tower Also stationed at that location in the CFD’s (Boston Fire Museum) SCUBA dive team. Now defunct (1963), Engine Co. 6 was the first due at the Great Chicago Fire* The second-largest fire in Chicago history was the Union Stock Yards fire of 1934. It burned nearly 90% of the Stock Yards and required the efforts of 1,600 firefighters to extinguish.* Modern Fire Alarm (Elvis Santana) The CFD officially disbanded their volunteer unit The Iroquois Theater Fire (1903) led to many in 1989. The unit, created from a former Civil improvements in fire safety including the Defense team, assisted the CFD in battling installation of fireboxes outside theaters, panic extra-alarm fires.* bars on doors, fireproof curtains, and doors opening outward. * Fire-damaged copy “911” was inaugurated in September of 1976.* of a volume of hymns Spirit of Prayer (GreatChicagoFire.org) Chicago Fire Department image depicting Title: The Great fire at Chicago Oct. 9th 1871. ladders, trucks, and hoses fighting a fire. View from the west side /Gibson & Co.'s Steam (ChicagoFD.org) Press, Cin. O. (LOC) The Great Fire at Chicago. Scene in Wells Street - the terrified populace in front of the Briggs Michael J. Corrigan and Fred Fenske, Jr., House, which has just caught fire / from a standing in front of a fire truck in a garage sketch by our special artist. (LOC, Chicago Daily News Collection, 1929) (LOC, Harper’s Weekly) Title: Chicago, as seen after the great conflagration, embracing the whole of the burned district as seen from an elevation in the southern boundary thereof. (LOC) Firemen riding on a new fire truck on a street in Chicago has had many railway terminals over Chicago, Illinois the years, including Great Central, Dearborn, (LOC, Chicago Daily News, 1929) LaSalle Street, Grand Central, Union, Wells Street, North Western, and Millennium Stations. * Unity Church, 1871 Sectional View of LaSalle Street Tunnel (Abbott, J. H., GreatChicagoFire.org) (GreatChicagoFire.org, 1877) The tunnel was opened just three months before the Great Fire. Chicago is divided into two dispatch areas: Main (North) and Englewood (South). The south branch of the Chicago River is the dividing line.* Police officer George Ferguson standing in front A typical Fireman’s Whistle of two automobiles on a road (WhistleMuseum.com) (LOC, Chicago Daily News Collection, 1928) Automobiles parked along a street in The term “Still Alarm” arose with the use of Logan Square telephones for reporting emergencies. The (LOC, Chicago Daily News, 1929) alarm office’s register would receive a signal from a firebox that remained “still” (in one location).* City Police or Fire Whistle (WhistleMuseum.com) Kettle at allegedly survived the Chicago fire (LOC, Chicago Daily News, 1905) The Chicago Fire Department was officially established August 2, 1858.* Mexican Central Railway train at station St. James Episcopal Church After the Fire (LOC, Detroit Publishing Company, 1880) (GreatChicagoFire.org) Painting of the Chicago fire of 1871 by Edgar S. Cameron (LOC, Edgar S. Cameron, 1911) .