This information was taken from the original minutes of the Ellettsville Fire Company, The Ellettsville Farm Newspaper, The Ellettsville Journal Newspaper, and department members.
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The town of Ellettsville was founded in 1837. The population of the town has always been about 700 to 1000 people. This was the case up until the mid 1960's when the town really started to grow. On Sunday, August 1st, 1886, Ellettsville suffered the greatest loss by fire in the history of the town. It was described as a small conflagration. At about 10:30 pm, the engine room of Shook and Faulkner's wagon works was discovered to be on fire. A number of citizens reaching the location almost simultaneously. The alarm became general and in a few minutes, most of our people were at the scene.
The building burned rapidly and as there was no chance to save it, efforts were directed toward saving the adjoining buildings, and to removing goods from them. Soon Harry Copenhaver's house and the large shop opposite Shook and Faulkner's and used by them as a ware room were on fire. All of Copenhaver's household was gotten out, and a small portion of goods from the ware room. The fire rapidly spread to the Odd Fellows' Hall arid to the large building of W.H. Jackson. Though working faithfully to hold the fire in bounds it could not be done and our town seemed to be doomed to destruction. After a hasty consultation, a telegram was sent to Bloomington, asking for help.
The Odd Fellows and W.T. Harris and the Jackson buildings burned like tinder and goods were removed from these buildings and the store of Perry Brothers, but before very much was removed, the flames compelled the work to be abandoned. A strong force was at work on the buildings of James Parks to prevent it from burning and thus check the fire in this direction. This building was saved, and by it the building of Mrs. Delapp being saved almost the remainder of the business part of town was saved.
Soon the barber shop of J.A. May caught, and then the drug building of B.C. Harris and Son and the dwelling adjoining, belonging to J.M. Harris. The northern boundary of the fire being under control, efforts were made to save the row of buildings above the dwelling, and thus check the fire in this direction, which was done. Thus, the fire under control, with nine buildings in ashes. When at 1:00 am a train of two flat cars and a portion of the Bloomington Fire Department arrived, the fire under control, but the hand pumper was placed at the creek, and a stream of water turned on to the burning buildings.
Had it not been for the wind blowing in a southerly direction, every business and house in town would have burned. It had also rained that evening and it was being credited to the saving of the town.
There were six reported injuries ranging from cuts to strained backs.
It is known that the fire originated in the engine room, but how is a mystery, as there had been no fire under the boiler for two weeks. Harry Copenhaver saw some small boys smoking in the neighborhood Sunday afternoon, and it is possible a cigar stub was the agent.
The citizens of Ellettsville met for the purpose of taking action expressive of their gratitude and thanks to the Bloomington Fire Department for prompt and willing aid rendered on the night of August 1st, when the town was threatened with destruction by fire. On a motion Captain G.K. Perry (U.S. Army) was elected chairman and Dr. W.L. Whitted secretary of the meeting. On a motion of L.W. Sanders, a committee of three was appointed by the chair whose duty it should be to write a letter of thanks and expression of gratitude of the citizens of Ellettsville to the Bloomington Fire Department for their noble response upon our calling for help when our town was threatened with destruction by fire.
----------------------------------------------------------------------- Ellettsville, Indiana, August 4, 1886 To Chief of Fire Department Bloomington, Indiana Dear Sir: At a called meeting of the citizens of the Town of Ellettsville, the undersigned were appointed to draft a communication to you, and through you, to your Fire Company, expressive of thanks and gratitude of our citizens for your prompt and noble response to our call for assistance when the fire fiend bid fair to destroy our town. We feel that we have hearts to appreciate, if not words to express, our gratitude for this generous act. We assure you, that we shall ever kindly remember you, and shall not soon forget this act of kindness on the part of the Fire Department of Bloomington. Very respectfully, Yours, L.W. Sanders, W.L. Whitted, F.E. Worley, C.L. Cornman ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Bloomington, Indiana, August 7, 1886 The Bloomington' Fire Department hereby acknowledges your letter of appreciation of our response to your call for help on August 1st, and feel that it far more than pays us for our trouble. The only thing we regret is that we could not get in time to meet the fire flames face to face and compel them to recoil in blackness before they had destroyed so much of your village. Should you be assailed again call and we will respond with pleasure. Very respectfully your obedient servant, M.D. Griffey, Chief -----------------------------------------------------------------------
After the great conflagration in the town, the towns people saw a need for some type of fire protection. They met several times over a period of 18 months and finally, a group of men formed the "E1lettsvilie Fire Company". The date was May 29, 1888. A set of By-Laws was drawn up and approved. It consisted of how many people the organization could have, when and where they would meet, the company would have a chief, an assistant chief, treasurer and secretary. This form of organization held firmly for five years. The only equipment at that time were a hand pumper (which Bloomington left after the conflagration), leather buckets, everyone was issued an axe and bed keys. When a fire was noted, the fire company would get the hand pumper and go to the nearest water source and start pumping through make shift hoses.
1890's
In October, 1893 the fire company changed its name to the "Pioneer Fire Company". The By-Laws were basically the same except now they added brigade captains, they were assigned to each side of town so that everyone in the fire company would have some one to answer to at an alarm.
Sometime in the late 1890's, the Pioneer Fire Company came into a loosely run organization. It is believed that this came about due to the lack of fires in the town. Sometime during" the turn of the century, the "Pioneer" was not used and people simply called it the "Fire Department". The department was only given money by the Town Board only when it was absolutely necessary. This was the case up until the 1940's. According to Ruby Endwright, who joined the fire department in 1932, if you wanted to be on the fire department, just show up when there was a fire and you could help. He stated that they did buy rubber fire coats and aluminum helmets in 1939. Up until 1940, the only piece of equipment was the hand pumper that was donated by Bloomington Fire Department.
1940's
In 1940, Roy McNeely donated a 1936 Chevrolet 1 ton pick-up which was light blue in color. The truck was equipped with 1200 feet of 2 1/2 hose, 200 feet of 1 1/2 hose and 25 feet of 1 inch rubber hose. The truck also had axes, pike poles and a ladder. According to Endwright, the truck was almost in compliance with NFPA pamphlet #19 (now NFPA 1901) except that it did not have water and that it was blue, not red. This truck would always have to hook into the hydrant before it could spray any water. It was very common and standard procedure to lay a dry line. There were very few fires in our town. Then on December 7, 1946, there was a house fire in which a prominent local citizen's house burned to the ground. It was at this time when the Town Of Ellettsville took over the responsibilities of fire protection. It was also becoming more common for towns to start taking the finances and start funding the fire departments.
In 1947, Ruby Endwright was appointed fire chief for an annual salary of $10.00 per year. The Richland township schools paid an unknown price for fire protection, a contract for the fire department to respond to fires in Richland township, it was $1000 annually. The problem was that the fire truck carried no water and that it would only benefit the people who had a pond or creek nearby. Therefore, a fund drive was established to get a Class "B" pumper. In October, 1947 the Town Board and the fire chief went to New York City for a meeting with the National Fire Protection Association. This was to help the town formulate and regulate a fire department. Sometime in 1947, a fire siren was mounted atop the fire station and the local telephone operator was to sound it if she were to be notified of a fire.
1950's
In 1950, a bond issue was established for the town to purchase a fire truck. the cost of the truck was $7,800.00. It was a Ford F-7 (now an F-700) 500 gallon tank, 500 gallon per minute pump, ground ladders, pike poles, etc. This truck was in compliance with NFPA #19. The truck was to be painted red. As the state fire marshal at that time, Alex Hougland, interpreted NFPA 19 as law and therefore all fire trucks were to be red. Our blue 1936 Chevy was the reason for this. According to NFPA, it was the first known fire truck to be a color other than red. There was a hurdle that took the town 9 months to rectify. After obtaining a petition of the town residents for the town to use a bond issue for the purchase the fire truck (which had to be done at that time), they had to have all of the signatures verified by the county Treasurer. They found out that 3/4 of the people who had signed were not actual landowners in the corporate town limits. They had to start over with the petition and make sure that they used only registered landowners in the town. On September 21, 1950, the town council announced the contract for a new pumper fire truck for E1lettsville. The company was awarded the contract was American Fire Fighting Apparatus Company of Battle Creek, Michigan. Delivery was slated for three months. On May 16, 1951, delivery was made of a 1951 Ford, 500 gallon per minute pumper to the town of Ellettsvi1le. The total cost of the pumper as delivered came to $7,899.60.
In 1957, the budget of the Ellettsville town council planned for the rising of fire protection rates. Finally a figure was arrived; the town would pay $1,000, the township would $1,000.
1960's
During the 1960's, the department grew even more. The amount of loose equipment increased. A man named Ed Hudson became fire chief in 1960. He outlined the purposes of his position as well as the other officers'.
1. Take care of the administrative end of the department. 2. To give advice to the active department. 3. To correct mistakes that were made on fire runs. 4. To form policies that the department should follow. 5. As an active department, with a great following, can get the equipment and complete certain projects that it might undertake for the good of the community.
In 1965 the department's membership grew to about 25 volunteer fire fighters. The fire siren was not being used anymore. Fire phones were placed in each members home. A massive fund raiser was in placed. Their goal was to build a new station, get an additional pumper, get a brush rig, and get an equipment truck. In September of 1966, a bid was awarded to Midwest Fire and Safety Equipment Co. of Indianapolis for a Class "A" 750 GPM triple combination pumper. The color was to be blue. This was done so the fire department could get back to its original color. The 1351 Ford pumper was also painted blue at this time. The 1936 Chevy was left red. By May of 1968, all of their goals had been reached.
There had been a lot of industrial plants being built in our township during the 1980's. This led to a better assessed valuation and helped the town reach their goals. However the industrial area felt it needed a fire station in their immediate area. Their area was located on the west side of Bloomington in Richland Township and was in the far south east corner of the township. The west side industries purchase a 750 GPM Class "A" pumper, a 1000 GPM Class "A" pumper with an elevated stream (squirt), a 750 GPM industrial pump and a pickup that the pump will ride on, 50 sets of fire fighting gear, 50 radio receivers, built a modern day fire station, give enough money to the town to pay 4 fire fighters full time for 5 years. All of this was donated to the town of Ellettsville Fire Department. With the increased concern for fire protection in this area of the township, there was increasing amount of volunteer fire fighters.
1970's
A big break in the financial woes was that of President Nixon creating the Federal Revenue Act and Comprehensive Employment Training Act (CETA). This gave the fire department more money to work with and we were able to hire a lot of our volunteers as paid fire fighters. In 1976 we had 7 paid fire fighters, 4 employed by the town and 3 employed under CETA. Eventually, the town hired the other 3 over a period of years. They did know that CETA would run out some day. Also, during this time, we had our ISO rating lowered from a 9 to a 7 just because of the additional paid personnel. Therefore they did not want to lose the rating.