The Paid Department
1888 to 1916
The Last Days Of The Volunteers
‘Volunteer companies of every description have always been, and will continue to be, illy governed bodies.’ (From an Article written in the paper about the recklessness of the volunteers.)
Another Article about a race to a pile of straw on fire.
Unfortunately, such incidents [as those above] caused some Stocktonians to question the discipline and efficiency of the volunteer department. Some of these citizens advocated the adoption of a paid department as a solution to these problems. By the late 1880’s, many of the volunteers themselves began to favor such a change, but for different reasons. Suffering under the financial burden of maintaining fire protection for a growing city and feeling unappreciated by the City Council that continued to ignore their requests for additional support, the members of the Eureka and Weber companies made plans to disband their organizations in 1887. Shaken by this turn of events, the City Council met with representatives from the volunteer groups and finally put the question of the establishment of a paid department before the voters. (Stockton Firefighters, T. Ruhstaller)
A Paid Department • January 9, 1888
When the Stockton Paid Fire Department was created in 1888, the city’s population was close to 17,000 and the corporate limits encompassed four square miles. The new department consisted of 14 full-time firemen and 15 ‘extramen’ or substitutes. Their apparatus, distributed among the department’s three engine houses, included two active and one relief steam fire engines, one chemical engine, one hook and ladder truck, and two hose carts with almost 4,000 feet of hose. (Stockton’s Firefighters, T. Ruhstaller)