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Tustin’s
first fire truck, a converted Buick touring
car, seen here with William Huntley at the
wheel and Nick Gulick , has been restored
and is on display at the Tustin Area Museum
Correspondence
between the Tustin Fire Department and the
American La France Fire Engine Co. in San
Francisco in 1915 is the first record of the
existence of a fire department thought to have
been organized by the Chamber of Commerce.
Apparently their
interest in buying equipment came to naught
because the volunteers continued to pull a
40-gallon chemical tank mounted on two large
wheels to fires, according to the late Will
Huntley who owned the tank and stored it at his
Tustin Garage.
Pushed or pulled
by several men or pulled behind an automobile,
this was a cumbersome piece of equipment.
However, it continued to be used until about
1924 when Sam Tustin, son of Columbus Tustin,
donated his 1912 Buick touring car to the
Chamber of Commerce. As Huntley remembered in a
1964 Tustin News story, the vehicle was sent out
of town to be converted into a fire truck with
two copper tanks. One tank held soda and one
held acid. A former fire chief, Pete Riehl,
recalled in the same story that “many a fireman
went home with holes in his clothing after
reloading the tank with sulfuric acid.”
The first meeting
of the Tustin Fire Department was held that same
year in the Knights of Pythias hall. Thirty-two
men signed up as volunteers. Tustin had a
population of 500 and an area of 31 square miles
in 1927. Two events that year brought changes to
the fire department. First, a siren was
purchased and installed on top of the First
National Bank building at the corner of Main and
D (El Camino Real). The operator in the
telephone exchange, which occupied space in the
building, was responsible for turning in the
alarm to call out the volunteers.
Second, Tustin
citizens voted to incorporate and elected a city
council, which included four volunteer firemen,
Charles Logan, fire chief; William Huntley;
Edmond Kiser; and Fred Schwendeman. In May 1928
the city council voted to take over the fire
equipment and began paying part of the expenses
of the 15 volunteers, such as caps, coats and
state insurance.
In 1930 the
community voted for fire bonds, 134 to 10. This
allowed the city to build a fire station to
house the equipment and purchase a second fire
truck, a Seagrave 500 gpm pumper. The new
station could accommodate as many as five
volunteers at night. Additional equipment was
acquired as Tustin expanded, but the fire
department continued to be staffed by volunteers
with little or no training until 1963 when the
first examination for paid firemen was held.
Three firemen, all former volunteers, were
hired. A second examination was held the next
year and two more paid firemen were added.
The city
continued to acquire more fire equipment, two
new stations and paid firemen. By 1977 fire
personnel consisted of a chief, two battalion
chiefs, six captains, six engineers,12 full-paid
firemen, one volunteer and 10 Explorers.
Despite the
growth of the department, it was decided that it
would be more efficient to contract fire
services out to the Orange County Fire Authority
which assumed responsibility on Jan 1, 1978,
ending an era of more than 50 years.
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