Name This Peoria Landmark

Vonster: Practice tank car at the PFD training center on Galena Rd.

A funny anecdote about Peoria’s volunteer fire department of the mid 1800’s:

As the City grew and changed, so did the volunteer companies. Some members were becoming increasingly unruly and more difficult for City officials to control. To insure rapid responses to fire alarms, the City decided to give the first company on the scene of a fire five dollars for throwing water on the flames. This caused fierce competition, and fire companies used any means possible to be the first crew on the scene, including fist fights and sabotage of a rival engine company’s supply hose.

You can read more history on the City of Peoria’s website.

This entry was posted on Monday, January 7th, 2008 at 7:53 pm and is filed under Fire Department, Peoria. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.