Page 32 - History of the Colton Fire Department

The fire whistle would blow at 10:00 a.m. and weeks and had every other Sunday off from 6am to Midnight. Once in
9:00 p.m. to turn crop irrigation on and off. A petition awhile you could go to a show or dance across the street but if the fire
was presented requesting that the blowing of the fire whistle blew you left. Perhaps because of the long hours and days of
being on duty the drivers always became good cooks and drinkers.
whistle be discontinued for this purpose but the Board Since there were not too many fires, twice a week the drivers would
of Trustees decided to continue the blowing of the fire take the trucks east on I Street to Mt. Vernon to warm them up.
whistle at these times. The living quarters was on the second floor and was all
electric since the city owned the power plant. When we first moved
Fireman’s Ball; New Year’s ball at the L.O.O.F. hall - It was an- in, we lived in the back since the Chief of Police lived in the front
nounced by Ray Fletcher. Come “dressed up”. The firemen hope to and Ken being single had a room also in the back. The large wooden
gain funds to complete the furnishings of their club room. steps leading upstairs were always open since they were located off
- Colton Courier, December 10, 1920. the hall downstairs leading to the other departments. The fire trucks
on one side, the City Clerk and Electric Department on the other
The Fireman’s third turkey shoot - Seventeen turkeys having been with the police and court room in the back. The jail was a separate
purchased for the awards at the shot. A truckload of men all crack building by the alley.
shots from the Dyas Company of Los Angeles. This is the third of a
two day shoot to be given by the firemen. Nick Carter
- Colton Courier, December 10, 1920.

1923
Nick Carter and Ken Apperson
along with their families moved into the
Fire Station above City Hall in 1923. Nick
Carter was hired as the second driver. Nick
Carter’s daughter, Naomi was about 6 years
old at the time and in later years she wrote
about some of her memories of those days
in the Fire House. In her letter below, she
talks about, living in the old station, its re-
model, the men her dad (Nick Carter) had
worked with, moving to the present day sta-
tion and life in Colton.

A letter by Naomi Carter (Ellison)
In 1923 my dad went to work for the Colton Fire De-
partment as Second driver at the old City Hall on I
Street. The First driver was Ken Apperson. A driver
was a fireman, engineer and captain all in one. No
tests were given, if you could drive any kind of truck
and of course it helped if you knew the right peo-
ple. The rest were all volunteers, most of them local
merchants such as the barber Alvin Hunter, the gro-
cery owner J.J. Andrews, the shoe repairman Harry
McAdams, the plumber Ove Larsen and many other
merchants also, men from the cement plant and PFE
who were allowed to leave work if the fire whistle
blew. If the fire was east of town the engine waited at
the station until several volunteers climbed aboard
otherwise they went to the corner of 8th and I Streets
for any other direction they were going. Generally
one or two volunteers would stay at the station to
direct the volunteers to the fire, even though none
could drive the truck. The driver had to first an-
swer the alarm, blow the whistles and raise the large
wooden door by hand before they could leave the
station. Many times at night my mom would go down
and blow the whistles for them.
32 A driver made $67.50 every two