HISTORY
BY CAROL BAKER DAWSON
HONORING THE PAST , ENSURING THE FUTURE
BY APRILE RICKERT
Prior to the official start of the Jeffersonville Fire Department in July 1871 , it was volunteers with the " bucket brigade " who helped protect the city from fires .
Starting around the 1830s , these residents would have strategically placed equipment — buckets and ladders — around the city , " and then if there was a fire somewhere , the volunteers would go to that area and get the buckets and ladders and put the fire out ," former Jeffersonville Fire Chief Charles ( Mike ) Smith said . In the 1870s , following the Great
Chicago Fire that destroyed blocks and blocks of the wooden buildings there , Jeffersonville leaders decided it was time to establish a more structured , better equipped , faster responding , paid , professional department .
Although there have been a lot of changes in the past century and-ahalf — everything from technology and staffing to fire service practices — at its core remains the same philosophy — local people working to make their city a safer place .
EQUIPMENT EVOLUTION Today ' s huge fire trucks , outfitted with tools needed for various situations , evolved out of the different types of trucks early firefighters used .
" Back then , the firetrucks were either drawn by horses or pulled by the firefighters ," Smith said . " You had a hose truck that carried the fire hose , a ladder truck that carried ladders , and they had a steamer ."
10 Jeffersonville Fire Department / 150 years