Page 12 - History of the Colton Fire Department

A unanimous vote of thanks was extended to Dr. M.F. Price for his aid in organizing the company. Dr. M.F.
Price was a respected physician in the area that was well known in the medical field. He moved from Los Angeles
to start his practice in Colton. Dr. Price was a member of the California Medical Society for which he presented
many studies that help pave the way towards medical treatments and therapies of today. Dr. Price was Published in
JAMA - Journal of the American Medical Association, a Member of the Pan American Medical Board, helped organ-
ize and was voted in as the first President of the Southern California District Medical Society in 1898. Dr. Price had
a significant hand in guiding the Volunteers to organize themselves in an official capacity.

On December 10th, 1889 the Fire Department Log reflected;
The City Council turned over the care of the following apparatus to the Fire Company:
o 1,000 feet of 2 ½ inch rubber hose
o One hose carriage and fixtures
o Hydrant wrenches
o Three Edison electric fire extinguishers and 8 charges.

1890 task so this would narrow the field on nominations for
Unless there was a resignation or absence, elec- the Chief position. On a fire scene, you were expected
tion of new officers would generally take place on April to respect and follow commands of the ranking officers.
of each year. Some years were not recorded and therefore If there was a violation of rules or attendance problems,
it was unknown if any changes took place. there would be consequences. Depending on the seri-
A.B. Farling was appointed as the second Volun- ousness of the offense, you might pay a fine of 25 cents or
teer Chief on April 26. He was a marble cutter at the there would be an investigating committee to determine
marble works on Slover Mountain. the proper action which could result in being discharged
The Fire Department always depended on the from the department. There were many volunteers that
public’s support. One of the many fund raisers to come would come and go due to their family relocating or the
had been discussed on September of 1890. Some of the amount of devotion that one was willing to give in or-
concerns and topics were politics, prohibition and con- der to serve their community. It would take a great deal
tacting the electric company so they might maintain the of time and energy in order to fulfil the requirements to
lighting during the entertainment. become a member of the Colton Volunteer Fire Depart-
The Colton Fire Department Volunteers had prop- ment. Those that loved the job and challenges that came
er meetings once a month unless urgent business prompt- with each call would earn the title “Fireman”. Those
ed them to have a special meeting. The meetings were that showed leadership abilities and were able to make
conducted by elected officers. The Chief would only the best use of their manpower would advance within the
conduct business in the absence of the President. On the ranks. After showing such ability, a candidate would be
fire ground the hierarchy would be Chief, First Foreman, nominated for a position and then the membership would
First Assistant Foreman, Second Assistant Foreman and vote. Fire behaviour was not as well understood in the
a Hoseman. Now that they were officially recognized by early years and safety would sometimes lack. There were
the City, they also acquired a meeting place at City Hall many studies being done by larger departments such as
or as they called it the “fireman’s room”. They bought Los Angeles that could afford to do so and the Colton
furnishings with their own funds and sometimes squab- Volunteers were always hungry to adopt and learn new
bled over who could use the room. It seemed that other fire fighting techniques.
officials would loan out the room so the men wanted a One fact that was true then and is still true today
vote to show that only fireman can use the room. in many cases, you need to “Put the wet stuff on the red
Even though they had their individual ranks on stuff”. In today’s modern fire science, you would need to
the fire ground, they were all considered to be a Fireman know what is burning before you applied water. With the
first. Once a year they would re-elect all officers includ- electrical, chemical and other combustibles
ing the Chief. The Chief would also have to deal with the
politics between the City Trustees (City Council). Very
few of the guys had the desire, the ability or pa-
12 tience to constructively deal with this important