The Great Fire Engine Rally Has 19th Century Roots

This past weekend was the annual Great Fire Engine Rally with participation from fire departments throughout the St. Louis region. The rally is part of firefighters weekend.

You might think such an event was held  this past weekend of to coincide with 9/11. You can think that, but you’d be way off – this year was the 28th.  But the history of celebrating firefighting in mid-September is much much older.

From the book St. Louis Day-By-Day:

September 15, 1858

The Steam Engine Fire Department celebrated it’s first anniversary with a procession of its seven steam fire engines through downtown St. Louis. For several years the volunteer fire system had been increasingly troublesome as fights erupted between companies for first place at the city’s conflagrations, and in 1857 a board of fire engineers was appointed to organize a new system using steam boilers in place of the old hand-pumped machines.

It was less than a decade earlier when fire destroyed boats on the wharf which spread to nearby buildings:

The St. Louis Fire of 1849 was a devastating fire that occurred on May 17, 1849 and destroyed a significant part of St. Louis, Missouri and many of the steamboats using the Mississippi River and Missouri River. This was the first fire in United States history in which it is known that a firefighter was killed in the line of duty. Captain Thomas B. Targee was killed while trying to blast a fire break. (Wikipedia)

To these early residents fighting fire was serious business.  In 1850 the population was  just 77,860 but by 1860 it had grown to 160,773 (Wikipedia), all living in very close proximity where a single fire could destroy many properties.

Hats off to the men and women who serve as firefighters and EMS!

– Steve Patterson