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The fire department was officially founded in
1896, after two devastating fires in 1894. The first was
in July 1894 which burned most of the south side of
downtown between Wilder Ave. & Chamberlain Ave. The
second fire happened several months later and burned the
north side of downtown, with the exception of one
building. It was decided soon after that the town needed
an organized fire department. It is unclear how many men
volunteered for the fire department when it started, but
it is known that William E. McElwee was the first fire
chief. We also have no knowledge of what fire equipment
was used during these early years before the
establishment of a true fire station or motorized
vehicles.
In the early years, all members of the fire department
were volunteer, including the fire chief, who was
appointed by the mayor. It’s not clear what year the
fire department hired the first paid firefighter, but
that man was Arther ‘Pop’ Lawson. We do know that he was
working as early as the 1920’s. He stayed at the fire
hall, which was in the old Molyneux building located
behind the First American Bank building on Chamberlain
Ave. He worked 24/7 only leaving the fire hall on
Sundays for a couple hours to go home for dinner. Even
though, the fire department had a chief during this time
it is basically understood that Pop was the defacto
leader of the fire department.
Pop Lawson remained the only paid firefighter on the
fire department until his retirement sometime in the
1950’s, at which time the first paid firefighters were
hired. To the best of our knowledge from passed on
information, the fire department started with three paid
firefighters, but quickly grew to six paid positions. It
stayed that way until the late 1970’s, when the
department increased to ten positions. In 1976, the
first paid fire chief was hired.
After Pop retired, the fire department was still staffed
for 24 hours, but worked several different shift cycles
before settling on the traditional 24/24 in the late
1960’s. In the early 1980’s, the staff was increased to
12 paid positions and the department went to the current
24/48 shift cycle with four firefighters on each shift.
Today, each shift is made up of a Captain, Lieutenant,
and two firefighters. We no longer have volunteer
firefighters in the same sense as those who came before
us. We still have a combination department, but our
reserve firefighters are now ‘paid on call’ members who
not only respond when we have emergencies, but are
called on to fill in during vacations, times of illness,
and inclement weather. We have a total of 13 career
personnel, including the fire chief, 14 paid on call
firefighters, one volunteer Assistant Chief, who
oversees the paid on call members, and serves as a
reserve engineer, and one volunteer Chaplin.
In 1927, the fire department purchased its first
motorized fire engine. The American LaFrance arrived on
a railcar and was unloaded at the town depot. We know
that the department had smaller support vehicles, such
as pickups or vans over the years and chief vehicles,
but the 27 ALF was the only true fire engine the fire
department had until the purchase of a 1954 American
LaFrance Type 700 convertible. The next engine purchased
was a 1961 American LaFrance 900 series convertible.
That year the fire department moved into its new station
on S. Front Ave. near the location of where the current
city street department garage is today. Soon after, a
second station was opened on S. Kingston Ave.
In 1975, the main station ironically burned down. The
fire department then moved most of its equipment to the
station on S. Kingston Ave. and stationed one fire
engine temporarily at the National Guard Armory. In
1976, the city purchased a brand new modern American
LaFrance Pioneer series engine, the first closed cab the
department ever bought. In 1978, the fire department
converted an old 1970 (we think) Chevrolet oil/fuel
truck into a 1000 gallon tanker truck. In 1979, the
department moved into a new modern fire station, where
we still reside today, and continued to operate out of
the Kingston Ave. station as well.
Also during that year another engine was added to the
fleet, a 1979 American LaFrance/Ford C series. This
would be the last ALF truck bought by the city. In 1980,
after a several large downtown commercial fire, it was
decided that we had a need for an aerial ladder
truck/elevated stream device, so the search began. The
city picked a used 1965 Seagrave 65ft. ladder truck that
had been purchased by and served the Kansas City
Missouri Fire Department. The city next purchased a new
1980 FMC/Chevrolet mini pumper rescue.
In 1990, it was decided the 65 Seagrave ladder truck
needed to be replaced. As a result, in 1991, the city
purchased a new Sutphen 75ft. ladder truck, the first
tilt cab chassis that Sutphen manufactured, by the way.
We added two new KME/International fire engines in 1995
& 2000 updating our worn out fleet of engines at the
time. In 2013, the city purchased our newest addition to
the fleet, a 2013 Sutphen fire engine.
In 2003, we started providing a new service to our
citizens known as First Responder medical response. We
started out with an early 1990’s Jeep Cherokee; then we
moved into a 1990 Ford F-350 with a utility bed. After
that, we purchased a 1999 Chevy Suburban 2500 and used
it until we bought a new 2010 Ford F-350 light rescue,
which we are currently using for our medical calls &
vehicle accidents.
Today we operate both Sutphens, both KME’s, the F-350
rescue & the 1976 ALF as a reserve and public education
truck. In 2012, Station #2, located on S. Kingston Ave,
was closed due to its age and flooding issues making it
uninhabitable by personnel. The building still houses
our reserve vehicles and our 1927 ALF which has been
restored.
We are unsure how firefighters were notified when they
were needed on a call in the beginning. However,
sometime in the early years, a large siren was acquired
and installed on the roof of the fire station located on
Chamberlain Ave. When a call came in, whomever was at
the station at the time would blow the siren a certain
amount of times to designate what part of town the fire
was located. For example, one blast for the north side
or two blasts for the southwest side, sort of like a
Morris Code System. In the 1960’s, a reverse call system
was put into place. If you were a member of the fire
department, your phone number was put into this system.
When a fire was called in at the station, one of the
firefighters would pick up another phone, push a button
that would in turn ring everyone’s phones at home. At
the same time, that firefighter would tell everyone what
the call was and where, he would continue to repeat the
call and location a few times before leaving the station
in route to the call. In the early 1980’s, the fire
department started using modern radio pagers and were
dispatched from the station, before the firefighters
left on the call. In the mid 1990’s, firemen started
being dispatched by a modern E911 system that serves not
only Rockwood but the entire county.
Some of our more notable incidents over the years:
South & North side of downtown which led to the creation
of the fire department, July 1894
Iron Ore Mine explosion, 14 fatalities, 1926
First Baptist Church corner of Strang St. & N.
Chamberlain Ave., 1948
Bowman’s Lumber Yard on N. Front Ave., 1950’s
Hickey’s Store corner of Rockwood St. & Front. Ave.,
1960’s
JC Penney store corner of Rockwood St. & Chamberlain
Ave., 1960’s
First Christian Church on Rockwood St., 1960’s
A & P’s Market on Rockwood St., 1978
Campbell High School at Brick Yard Springs Ballfield,
1970’s
Lay’s Grocery on Rockwood St., 1977
Bromine spill on Interstate 40/Rockwood Mountain.
Evacuated entire city, 1977
Walker’s Real Estate on corner of Rockwood St. &
Chamberlain Ave., 1979
Peggy Ann Hotel & Restaurant on S. Gateway Ave., 1985
Rockwood Hotel on Rockwood St., 1986
Rockwood Antique Mall on Rockwood St., 2003
Several floods and train derailments have happened in
the town’s history.
Past Fire Chiefs
William E. McElwee 1901-1905
I.G. Fleming 1905-1913
W.N. Thompson 1913-1916
John A. East 1916-1925
John H. Booth 1925-1934 1st term
Fred Robbin 1934-1936
John H. Booth 1936-1939 2nd term
Cecil H. Kelley 1939-1952
John Albertson Jr. 1952-1961
Howard Booth 1965-1970
Bill Beckner 1970
Raymond Russell 1971
Hubert Kirby 1972-1974
Rollin Wyric 1975
Wiley Ray Martin 1976
Edd Williams 1977
Robert M. Wertz 1977-1981 1st term
Fred Eachus 1981-1984 1st term
Charlie Akins (public safety chief) 1985
Fred Eachus 1986-1993 2nd term
David Foland (public safety chief) 1993-1995
J.W. Cisson (public safety chief) 1995-2003
Robert M. Wertz 2003-2015 2nd term
Matthew Crabtree current chief
It would be impossible to name everyone who has served
at the Rockwood Fire Department. However, several
families have had multiple members who served as
firefighters. Some of these families include the Lawson family, Kirby family, Brasal
family, Russell family, Henderson family, Pelfrey
family, McNeal family, Booth family, Martin family,
Redwine family, Albertson family and the Crabtree
family.
We would like to thank all of our current and past
members for their service to our citizens. Those of us
who have served are only temporary stewards of this
department, it was here before most of us and will be
here after we are gone. Remember your past and share in
the pride of every firefighter who has served here, our
history is rich and our future bright.
Click here for a Printable Version
of the Fire Dept History
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