The Spokane Fire Department The Spokane Fire Department was established in 1884 after a hot dry summer with several fires, one of which destroyed sixteen businesses along Main Street. The original department had twenty-three volunteers and two hose carts. In the summer of 1889, nearly the entire downtown area burned to the ground including two of the three fire stations. By the end of that year, a paid department was established with twenty-five members, new horse drawn …showed first 75 words of 1710 total…

…showed last 75 words of 1710 total…to the hose house, and then run to the fire pulling their carts. The Spokane Review called for "a team of horses and a few paid men ever ready to respond to the first tap of the bell." The paper also noted that the old water system was unreliable, it was probably at about this time that a new hose company was organized, the Washington Hose Company, housed on Broadway Street, north of the river.