FIRE DEPARTMENT Many homes
have been destroyed by fire in Clarks
Hill and those who have experienced
ttonly smoke damagett know what a
difficult task it is to recover from that
damage. Fires have always been a
concern of the people.
The earliest record of a fire
department in Clarks Hill comes from
a ::-newspaper article which relates
that a fire department was founded on
September 8, 1849 and recorded 4
days later.
citizens. This was due to the question
of whether to spend the large sum of
$600 for a fire engine. This was not a
fire truck as we know today, but a two
wheel cart with two 45 gallon tanks,
New Fire-_Engine Will Be-:~-'
:Y':D~m~ris:trate'd Saturday
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. _Tbe n~w c'hemical fire e;.gine, ,~hicl~
h~'~_b~6';jih~ sU~j~ct ~(;u-ch dis6u'~~i;II'
for the pa'st tW'G~~nth~~ill b~derii~~:
stra t~d S~turday'aftern;ona t o'cl'd~k:
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'. At tbe April meeting of the town
board a representative of the Obencbain
& Bover Co.; of Logansport, manufact':
urers of cbemical fire engi!les, was given
a 'Gontract to goive a demonstration of aD
etigine OD Satgrday, April 17. The eng!oe was\hipped here aod all arrangements hadbfle:o. made for tbe' demon·
stration .. "A nuc:iber of citizens 'believi[)g tliat the ~~'gine ~as ~ot as it: had
be'en represented, ci~cu"lated:'~ 'petition
aski~g the. baa'rd' to' turn down -the
propositi~n'and shiptbe engine back to
the manufacturers. ; The petItion ~as
signed bv about 'thirty tax payers. The
board c'alled 'off tbe demollStration bu t
'refus'ed to sh.·ip-'" the engine back to the,
co~pany
~ntil
they
hild mad~
tbo;.'I
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ough investiga,tion regarding the merits
of tbe ~ppara·tus. 'A number of surrounding .towns liav~ _purchased' fire
engines simiiar to the o'ne sbipped here
and: tbe' town: board has found that
'tbe . engines" have. always given' good
a
Because of their round bottoms, early fire
buckets could not be set down. courtesy of
George Kingery.
In researching this project, it was
startling to discovety how many
homes and businesses were destroyed
by fire throughout the years~ It caused
a lot of thought as to how any
building survived with oil lamps, poor
heating apparatus, and candles on
Christmas trees, coupled with a poor
mode of fire fighting. It is not known
how the early fire fighters did their
job, due in part, to the destruction of
early town records.
In April of 1915 there was a good
deal of contention among the town
servic~~. ~~.'. ·~.·:~·C.~~~·,.~~~,· /~. ~
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. ··..To give thiidemonstration 'a i tempora;y'room will be erected.Tbe ·room
will be'fille{ wi th pi~e-boxes an·d. 'j)ther
thi~gs· which·" wi!(' burri- .. easil/"-an~d
fifte-en or twenty. gallons of coal oil .wlll
be' poured on -the' contents of the r~~i"a·.
If th'e work of. the etigin~ in extinguish:
initbe blaze meets with 't~e appra-va~I,
of the tOlvn boaro. the· "equipment will
be pii~chased.:Tg.'e demonstration',wil,! .
De in charge pf tI.'E.l'ti:ller, of' Logan~·
spo'rt, a represeotativ~"Cf the company
lDaimfac~uri}Jg.:t~e.,,~ngine.,<Tbe·.ap~.
paratus .carries' ·two·. tanks·.··with·i)l
capacity of '45 'gailo'ns'~ach'ii;iJd 200fee\'
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6(h~9~e.~.~.:(-:r .~*~~:.; ,.~,::{<;'~' .;;~: ~~:i~~#~· -::~ ;:;:}~~.
elms Hill News-June 4, 1915.
With the completion of the town's
water works system in the latter part
of 1940, fire fighting was greatly
enhanc~d and in September of that
year 1000 feet of fire hose was
purchased from a company in Passaic,
New Jersey.
On June 2, 1941 in an effort to
organize a fire department, the town
board voted to pay each volunteer $1
per fire run which was not to exceed
$10 at anyone time. These firemen
were also paid 25 cents for each fire
department meeting they attended.
(Not many years before some would
have felt lucky to have worked for $1
a day.)
In the summer of 1941 the State
Fire
Inspection Bureau ruled that it
The larger truck which was plU'Chased in 1941.
would be necessaty to find a better
L-R: Catherine Ream, Doug Finch, Dick
Peterson & Dwight McDole.
fire truck. The town board minutes do
not explain how this situation was
200 feet of hose and a mechanism for rectified, but the picture of the interior
adding chemicals to the water.
of the Ream Garage (see Auto &
After a demonstration by the
Garage section.) shows that another
Logansport firm, the town bought the truck was used which could carty
apparatus on June 5 of that year.
more fire hose than was previously
Several years later this equipment
possible with the 1/2 ton pick-up
was placed upon a gasoline powered
truck. Most likely because of the
truck, but the 90 gallons of water was shortages caused by WW II, a newer
insufficient for most fires. Town board and larger truck was not available.
minutes of September 3, 1929 tell that
wells were being placed at the Baker
and Milli an stores for fire protection.
During this penod the - -.. .
equipment was mounted aboard a
Model T truck which was stored in ~'
garages of local auto repairmen.
September 1937 the chemical
equipment was placed aboard a newer
1936 International Harvester pick-up
which was purchased from William
Scanlon. Still, fires such as the
burning of the Fletcher Inn (Across
Ford St. from the Ben Hur House.)
could not be controlled because of the
The demise of the Ben Hur House.
inadequate supply of water.
19508 - Firemen sharpen their skills in water ball
practice & competition.
Again the town board minutes show
that in November 1941, the town
clerk was to get together with Roy
Ream, who was fire chief, to arrange
for insurance for the volunteer
firemen.
In August of 1944 a fire siren was
installed on top of the Masonic Lodge
building. As the calls for fire
assistance were received by the
operator at the telephone exchange,
she would activate the siren by an
electrical switch box next to the
switchboard. This system for calling
the firemen to duty was tested each
noon with a 15 second blast of the
siren, Sundays excepted.
January 1, 1945 the roster of
volunteer firemen included:
Roy Robbins
Harvey Dunbar
George Hill
Everette Doke
Lloyd Plat
John Marks
Rex Van Allen
Ralph Stinebaugh
George King
Marion Davidson
THE INDIANA FIREMAN
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CLARKS HILL VICTORIOUS Pictured above is the Clarks Hill department which was
declared water ball champion of the Fourth district before the convention. They defeated the
Lafayette firemen but were eliminated at the state convention in the race for the state
chwnpionship. Above, left to right, kneeling· Kenny McDowell, Lloyd Morris, BIYon Snell,
George Kinge1'Y, Francis Fidler, Wib Fidler, Bub Stevens, Cleo Winger, Phillip Lister.
Standing· Kenny McDowell Jr., Harvey Dunbar, Jack Smith, Everette Doke, Dave
Summerfield, Noble Lister, Howard Wright, Bud Wallace, Bob Dukes, Donald Kunkel. 1954
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AJ. Miller \
Russel Alter
Bob Peterson
Bill Webb
Red Bagwell
Harvey Parvis
Doug Finch, driver & maintenance.
In November of 1949 the town
replaced the worn-out fire truck with
a V-8 Ford chassis which was
purchased from Everette Doke for
$300. One month later it was decided
to enlarge the doors of the town hall
and park the fire equipment there.
The fire department was chartered
in 1952 for liability purposes. The
members at that time were:
Francis Fidler
George KingelY
Mike Thompson
Cleo Winger
Phillip Lister
Noble Lister
"Bub" Stevens
Jack Smith
Raymond Weaver
Donald Kunkel
Howard Wright
Paul Marks
Harvey Dunbar
BlYan Snell
Herbert Fisher
Lloyd Morris
Bob Findlay
Herbert Cooper
Kenneth McDowell
Charles Vanderkolk
In 1953 a rural fire department was
mentioned in the town board minutes.
Older firemen of today say that this
was a time of great contention. A
1954 fire truck was purchased bya
1992 Fire DeparlmcntOpen Home - L-R: Travm Owens. Tony Neidigm, ~ene ~, George
Kingery, Wilbur Fidler, Odis Perkins, Bob Rees ~
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Town hall at fire dep__ ent.1992. :rtorege bldg.
group for the protection only of those
fanners who paid for membership in
this organization. Although it was
manned by people from within the
town, it was not to be used for fires
within the city limits or for those who
were not members of the rural group.
The discord began when the
volunteers ignored the rules and used
the truck. for non-members. Soon it
was ruled that the town equipment
Eq........ diopIlll'ech.l992 OP"'_'
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b.ct is same location of old Fe... Poultry House:-
including the newly purchased Boyer
Fire Truck. was not to lcave town.
Heated meetings were held. Once
with the State Fire Marshal in
attendance, but for many years these
meetings were to no avail. After 10
years of bickering the rural truck was
sold to the town and the rural fire
group was disbanded.
In 1966 an addition to the town haU
was made so the fireman could have
an office and in June of 1973 a 99
year lease between the town and fire
department was signed for the use of
the town hall building.
Except for the two wheel cart in
1915, all equipment before 1977 had
been purchas~used and modified to
meet the needs of the fire fighters. In
the past 15 years a new pumper, minipumper and tank-truck have been
acquired. Due to the efforts of today's
fire department in procuring this
equipment, the insurance rates of
home owners were lowered in 1991
and Clarks Hill was reclassified from
10 to 7 on the insurance rate tables.
Today's firemen include:
George Kingery
Wilbur Fidler
Fred Priest
Gene Paris
David Blacker
Wayne Blacker
Travis Owens
Don Williams
Dave Stevenson
Phillip Lister
Bob Phebus
Kurt Jones
Odis Perkins
Gerald Rich
Mike Stems
Raymond Weaver
Butch Haas
Ronnie Steward
Marvin Stevenson
Mike Hardesty
supplies.
Three years later the State of
Indiana required certification of all
ambulances and the personnel who
operated them. Because the van being
used by the town did not have the
required amount of room, it could no
longer be used as an ambulance.
Therefore, the town spent a period of
time without the emergency selVice
they had become accustomed to.
In 1977 the Tippecanoe County
Emergency Medical SelVice
purchased two new ambulances. One
of the replaced vehicles was sold to
the newly formed Clarks Hill EMS for
$1.
During this period of transition
Donald and Carolyn Davis, Bill
Jackson, Sheree Williams, Lee
Dinsmore, Donald Ream, Jean
Medley, Janet Gish and Stella
Cummings were certified by the state.
Later Larry Jenkins, Mararet Zink,
Don Williams, Brenda Ade, Lynn
Houchens and Joyce Gramman were
volunteering their time and skills also.
Today the Emergency Medical
Technician must be even more
qualified than in times past. Today the
EMT is ualified to use the
Computerized Defiberation Unit
(heart shocker), install out of sight
airways, use MAST trousers, and
must be able to maintain !Vs.
Due partly to the 160 hour
schooling, replacement of those who
have left the selVice has not come
about, therefore, Brenda Ade and Don
Davis remain the only certified EMTs
at this time. ~
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- Top: The firemen annually
collect for the Muscular
Dystrophy Fund
Middle: Today's mini-pumper,
tanker & pumper engine.
Bottom: Firemen receive an
award L-R: Phillip Lister, Noble
Lmer, ? , George KingCIY,
WilblD' Fidler & Bub Stevens.
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