Cape Girardeau Fire Department to celebrate 100 years Saturday

Pictured are members of the Cape Girardeau Fire Department. Barney Kraft, standing in center, had been appointed chief during the reorganization of the department May 5, 1909. First assistant chief was Charles Hahn, and the second assistant chief was Leon Albert. The dapple gray team of horses was purchased in St. Louis for $400 by Aldermen Alex Vasterling and Joe Wilson, hence their names Joe and Alex. They were trained by Leland Albert and were first hitched to the wagon May 25, 1909. They responded to their first call June 7, 1909.
(Submitted photo)
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The party, set for 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Cape River Heritage Museum, 538 Independence St., will include a host of firetrucks, games for children and refreshments.

It's one way firefighters Sam Welker and Mike Ramsey are working to preserve and share department history.

For more than two years, the men have gathered information, photos and memorabilia stretching back to the city's earliest firefighters. They've tracked documents back to 1866 and found the most common name for the initial volunteer force was "The Good Intent Fire Department."

In 1909, the city created its own fire department. The department made a huge technological leap 100 years ago today, when two horses arrived on a steamship to provide fire transportation. Up to that point, firefighters grabbed a cart with a hose and ran to the fire, sometimes up to 15 blocks away. After a 1916 fire destroyed six downtown Cape Girardeau buildings, the city council agreed to buy a motorized fire engine.

Cape Girardeau firefighters from left Richard T. Mahy, George Dunn, Paul Lufcy, Gordon Morgan and Mearlin Allen attempt to put out the blaze in the Idan-Ha Hotel fire on June 29, 1968. Fifty percent of the Idan-Ha Hotel building was destroyed by fire on Broadway and Fountain streets. Milady's Shop and Rainbow Coffee Shop was also destroyed in the building.
(Southeast Missourian file)
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"I don't think I'd trade it for anything," said Mearlin Allen, a firefighter from 1967 to 2002. On June 29, 1968, his shoulder was slightly burned while he fought the Idan-Ha Hotel fire. His son, Kelly, is also a Cape Girardeau firefighter.

Though firefighters often save lives, most remember losses more vividly.

David McLain's face still shows emotion when he speaks of rescuing a little girl from a house fire years ago -- she died two days later. The child's sister survived and their mother was later charged with abandoning the children, said McLain, a firefighter from 1974 to 2001.

Chuck Denson, a Phoenix transplant, thinks of a 10-month-old baby who drowned in a bucket and three people who burned to death in a car accident.

"There's lots of good memories, too," said Denson, whose 25 years with the department started at the city's first fire station. "The job always meant a lot to me. I always thought of it as a brotherhood, more than a job ... like family."

Paul Kesterson, a 42-year veteran, joined the department in 1951, following in the footsteps of brother Wilbur "Bun" Kesterson. Paul Kesterson learned how to do vehicle extractions, work he found more difficult than fighting fires, because the extensive injuries people suffer in wrecks were haunting. Kesterson's one regret is never getting a chance to help deliver a baby -- a sentiment expressed by several other retirees.

Allen said that during the lulls, firefighters kept busy cleaning or training but also would help the community. He helped establish an Explorer Post and recalled helping put up Disney-themed holiday lights in North County Park. He said preserving the department's history is important "so future generations can see the buildings we used and the equipment we had."

Pranks and roosters

They coped with difficult moments by talking it out or lightening the mood with small pranks back at the firehouse, such as surprising the firefighter cleaning the pond behind the first firehouse by drenching him with the fire hose. In addition to caring for the fire horses, firefighters had other animals, including a series of mascot roosters, Ramsey said.

One rooster made the news after one of the two horses stepped on it and killed it.

In 1916, another rode on the rear axle of the fire wagon as it raced through a stormy night to a minor fire at The Republican, the Southeast Missourian's forerunner. The storm blew down an electric wire on Broadway and Lorimier Street, electrocuting the fire horses. The white rooster played in the rainwater and rode back to the station after replacement horses arrived on the scene.

Welker and Ramsey are planning a book on the department's history and said they relied a great deal on Southeast Missourian librarian Sharon Sanders to gather newspaper clips and photos. Sanders said the horses' story is an important one.

"I think they should have a monument," she said. "They are the only two members of the fire department to die in the line of duty."

Welker and Ramsey hope to see many other firefighters and their family members at Saturday's celebration.

The party coincides with the Cape River Heritage Museum's celebration of Jerry Ford Orchestra's contributions to the community.

pmcnichol@semissourian.com

388-3646

Pertinent addresses:

538 Independence St., Cape Girardeau, MO