A Brief
Written History of Poulsbo Fire Department
Part 5 - 1950 to 1960
In 1950, the Poulsbo Fire Department was able to purchase a more modern
fire engine in the form of a closed cab 1951 Ford with dual rear tires
and fitted with an American LaFrance fire unit consisting of a 500 gallon
per minute pump, 500 gallon water tank, 1000 feet of 2-1/2" hose,
200 feet of 1-1/2" hose, a booster hose reel with 300 feet of 3/4"
hose, 20 feet of hard suction hose, and many other items. This unit
was placed in service early in 1951. The 1918 American LaFrance pumper
had been disposed of with some parts and equipment going onto the reconstructed
1937 Ford, and this in turn had been placed in reserve. Furthermore,
the 1941 open cab Ford had been sold. There were by then 25 fire alarm
call boxes, 23 of which were on five circuits and the other two had
individual circuits. These had performed fine except during the Halloween
season when it became necessary for a few days to de-activate all call
boxes due to the rash of false alarms. W.E. "Crackers" Kobelin
was the Chief of Police with Stephen Billings affectionately known as
"Jersey", as assistant along with one patrolman. Thus the
City of Poulsbo then had a night watch. By 1951, Poulsbo had also been
elevated to Class 5 by the Washington Surveying and Rating Bureau, the
first all volunteer department in the State of Washington to be so rated.
This made a considerable reduction in fire insurance rates for those
living within the City.
The following decade, 1950-60, was a period of steady growth, improvement
of facilities and equipment, as well as' increased membership. Rudie
Iverson remained as Chief and Clarence Paulson, the Public Works Superintendent
of Poulsbo and Assistant Chief was responsible for the maintenance of
all of the equipment. Volunteers came and went with a very stable nucleus
group, mostly men with at least 20 years service with the Department,
including Chief Rudie Iverson, Clarence Paulson, Selmer Myreboe, Leif
Ness, Bjarne Rindal, Martin Anderson, Ole Serwold, and several more
recent acquisitions including Charlie Olson who later became Chief,
Glen Haskins, George Knudson, Jimmy Johnson, and others.
A used oil tank truck was
acquired and served well to carry up to 750 gallons of water to a fire.
It did not have a high pressure pump but was used merely to re-supply
the water in the tank on the engine pumper when no hydrant was available.
At times this truck would travel several miles between the fire site
and the water supply from a City hydrant or a creek.
The City of Poulsbo continued
to grow and the corporate limits were extended here and there as new
areas were annexed. Water mains were extended and improved, new housing
was constructed, the first phase of Anderson Parkway was undertaken
by dredging material from the harbor in front of the downtown area and
filling in adjacent to the shore line, thus extending the dry land into
the former harbor area. The Port of Poulsbo expanded and added additional
moorage space. New and replacement buildings were constructed in the
downtown area in compliance with up-to-date fire codes and non-combustible
fire walls to prevent fire from one structure escaping to the adjoining
one. Also, Highway 305 was constructed, thus relieving First Avenue
in Poulsbo of through traffic and creating a main thoroughfare for vehicles
traveling from Suquamish and Bainbride Island to Bremerton and the Olympic
Peninsula.
This new highway also provided
a better route for fire equipment traveling to rural locations.
A very spectacular fire, one of the few in downtown Poulsbo, occurred
near midnight on a Saturday in August of 1957. A fire broke out in the
Johnson Drywall Company store on the east side of First Avenue. It was
first noted by Mrs. Lois Hood who lived in the apartment over the store,
being awakened by her dog. She called the telephone operator who activated
the alarm siren on top of City Hall and the volunteers immediately responded.
All of the available equipment in Poulsbo was put to work. Hoses were
strung from one end of the street to the other to utilize as many hydrants
as possible. Most hoses were connected directly to the hydrant and the
pressure was sufficiently high. They did not use the engine pump for
additional pressure, other than some high pressure hoses and nozzles
used for fog. Flames were leaping from the store front through openings
where the glass windows had been. The light from the fire illuminated
the entire area. The heat was terrific, the fire being fed by paint
cans that had exploded and several barrels of paint solvent.
The well trained Poulsbo
team knew their ropes and finally extinguished the blaze without allowing
any adjacent structures to become engulfed. Even the restaurant adjoining
the paint store in the same building was able to open for business the
next morning. The damage to the building was extensive however and it
was not repaired, but rather was later demolished. During the conflagration,
there were so many fire hose streams being directed into the paint store
that cans of paint and other products were flushed right off of the
shelves carried out into the street by the outflow of water.
By 1960, Chief Rudie Iverson,
who had served in that capacity for 24 years since the official and
formal organization of the Department in 1936, stepped down and the
Mayor of Poulsbo appointed Clarence Paulson to be the new Chief. Clarence
was well qualified, having been a fireman for many years and additionally
he was the Public Works Superintendent for the City.
History
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