History


One night in the 1870's the citizens on the east side of the Town of Macon were awakened in the mid of a cold winters night by gunfire. A gonging sound soon followed and all were sure that there was a fire on the eastern side of town.

Firefighters from Macon Hook and Ladder Company soon arrived at the station finding the doors closed, they then awakened the sleeping hostler as they grabbed hold of the wagon and headed out pushing and pulling the wagon toward the fire. They expected to find him sleeping as they knew that he could not hear the alarm with the doors closed to the cold night air. Upon arriving at the fire twenty minutes later the house was in heavy flames with not much to save, but the attempt had to be made as anything saved was worth trying for their neighbor. Their personal protective gear was a long coat, tall boots work gloves and a large brim hat if one had them.

Fast forward to November,1999. A call comes in to the communications center that there is a house fire at the an address on East Street. Very soon an alarm notice is placed by an alarm service for an activated smoke alarm. The tone is set for the City of Macon Fire Department, "House fire on East Street" the address being the same as the former mentioned. Firefighters arrive in less than seven minutes with two pumpers loaded with preconnected hoses. The truck is connected to a hydrant and they were ready to pump water on the fire in less than one minute.

An interior attack team, in full protective gear with breathing apparatus, enter the house to find a fire in a bedroom. They extinguished it limiting the damage to smoke, a little water and damage to a chair placed too close to a space heater. The personal protective equipment is a bunker suit with gloves of quilted material with a fire retardant coating and personal breathing air for about 20 minutes, a PAS device to alert in case of trouble, radios, and a water supply second to none other. All of this with another engine just for backup along with a Snorkle Arial pumper to protect the nearby houses if needed.

Total time from the first call to the fire is out, 12 minutes!



The Macon Fire Department has been documented as early as May 11, 1871 but it seems obvious there was some sort of fire service at an earlier date. We chose the date which we could document from 1871 records showing that the Mayor / Alderman board were petitioned by the citizens to "donate the market house on the court house square to the Macon Hook and Ladder Company" then in 1873 ( our previous founding date ) the board authorized the purchase of 800 feet of "Goodrich fire hose." Presently research is going on to document when the water lines were installed. Perhaps there will be some sort of reference to fire plug or other references to a fire service which establish an earlier date for the fire service. (Note: A fire plug was, in the beginning, a wooden plug in a wooden pipe or a valve in an iron pipe where the firemen could pull or open to fill a hole dug in the ground. Water was pumped from the water filled hole. When finished the plug or valve was replaced. therefore the term "Fire Plug" which carries over to the modern fire hydrant.) This purchased hose of 1873 was loaded onto a horse drawn wagon which would serve to transport hose to the fire scene. In the 1920's the wagon, loaded with ladders and hose was housed in the fire-stall under the Town Hall where a hostler lived. In the early 1920's the holster, fire wagon and horse were housed under the town hall which is the present location of the U. S. Post. This hostler was paid $17.00 per month and was to have the horses harnessed and hitched to the wagon when the firemen arrived, or perhaps he might have gone directly to the fire. An old timer told about the notice of a fire, "When a fire occurred, one took out his revolver (perhaps any handgun) and fired it into the air then yelled, "fire over here!" This word was relayed to the courthouse, where a wagon wheel and hammer was hung from a tripod." One problem soon came to front as we have already pointed out. In the cold of winter the spacious doors were closed, therefore, the sleeping hostler could not hear the gunfire nor the wagon wheel alarm. To remedy this problem, a Model "T" was purchased in 1925 and the hose and ladders were loaded onto it.






Town minutes show that in June 1828 the process was begun to purchase a 500 GPM Pumper. In June 1929 the purchase of a "Custom, Triple Combination Pumper" from Buffalo Fire Appliance Corp. for $7600 was accepted. New York City purchased 900 as did the City of Chicago. The " A " frame radiator cowl was significate on the Custon model which had a rugged tractor type engine and a rounded cowl was on the standard with an automobile engine. This fire engine was delivered to Macon in October 1929. At this time the Macon Hook and Ladder Company became an engine company This engine ( No.29 ), which we still have, is the trade mark for The City of Macon Fire Department. It demonstrates commitment and determination for the department. As one can see it has wear and ruggedness and still keeps going.

Equipment of Today

The Macon Fire Department protects The City of Macon with a population of 1600 over I square mile as of December 2000 from one station at 605 West Pearl Street. As can be seen in the pictures of the four engines which we now run.

The Macon Fire Department saved many chimneys until the early 80's under a state rating classification ISO 8. At that time they went into a training overhaul. Training aggressively for about three years certifying twelve as State Certified Level I Firefighters. Four went on to meet the 1000-1 Challenge. As more classes have been given about 85% are now certified as level I or level II Firefighters. About 1/3 are EMR's, as we run auto extrication for about 3/4 of the County runs, most being mutual aid for the county runs. The City of Macon now has an ISO 7 rating with a classification as best. Of about 270 volunteer departments in the State of Mississippi, only 10 maintain a ISO 7 rating. The ISO rating system rates "10" as no rating, 10C as the lowest certified rating and "1" as better. Within each rating is a classification of good, medium and best. The highest rating presently in Mississippi is one with an ISO 3. There are full time or combination departments who are rated "7" but only 10 all volunteer departments with the ISO 7, of which we are proud to be one. The present goal is to add six more level II and possibly six 1000-01 firefighters in the next five years and possibly some with the Smoke Diver Certificate. All this in order to gain the ISO 6 rating as the water supply requirement may be met in the next year. At this time research is on-going as to the possibility to acquire a van to supply a heavy rescue equipped rescue team with at least ten persons trained with the van. This team will work in concert with the auto extrication truck.



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