Canyon Fire Department

Duane's take

Now, this one comes straight from the official marker, and I'm just the fellow passing it along to you. Before 1909, if a fire broke out in Canyon, Texas, your firefighting options were a bucket and a homemade ladder. That was it.

Let that picture settle in for a moment. A wooden town on the edge of the High Plains, open prairies stretching out in every direction, and your entire fire suppression strategy fit in one hand. The city decided that was not going to cut it.

So they organized a proper department, chose twenty-one men for duty, and went out and obtained a horse-drawn engine with two gasoline-driven pump motors from the Howe Engine Company. That is the kind of detail that tells you people meant business. They did not have long to wait before that equipment got tested.

In 1910, fire broke out at the Victoria. Canyon's largest hotel. The new firefighters went to work, and here is where the story gets complicated, the way good stories do.

The Victoria burned to the ground. Gone. But First National Bank and the other downtown buildings, they were saved.

You have to decide for yourself whether that counts as a victory. The department, I suspect, decided it did. Now, this was not a department protecting a few city blocks.

Their service area covered six hundred square miles. Six hundred. That meant grass-covered prairies, the deep cuts of Palo Duro Canyon, the communities of Canyon, Happy, and Umbarger, and the rural dwellings scattered across all of it.

And the work of building that department helped lead to something else, Canyon's first system of water works, which modernized the whole community. The years kept coming, and so did the challenges. Grain elevators went up.

Feed yards came in. Buffalo Lake Wildlife Refuge was established. Trains carrying hazardous materials began passing through Canyon, and every one of those developments required additional training, additional equipment.

The department kept adjusting. In 1962, they formed an emergency unit. In 1971, they introduced a snorkel unit, built to fight fires at tall institutional buildings, the kind of buildings that had come up at West Texas State University, the school now known as West Texas A&M University.

And then in 1973, Canyon Annual Fire Control School opened its doors, sending training out to firefighters across the entire Texas Panhandle. From two dozen men with a horse-drawn engine to a department serving thousands of students, educators, and tourists, alongside the ranchers and townspeople who have always called this corner of the Panhandle home. Bucket and ladder to snorkel unit, six hundred square miles at a time.

That is not a bad run for a department that got its start because somebody finally said enough with the buckets.

What the marker says

Prior to 1909, volunteers used buckets and homemade ladders to fight fires in Canyon and the surrounding area. The city addressed the need for fire protection by organizing a department and choosing 21 men for duty. The city also obtained a horse-drawn engine with two gasoline-driven pump motors from the Howe Engine Company. Soon, the apparatus was used in 1910 by fire fighters who stopped a blaze at the Victoria, Canyon's largest hotel. Although the hotel burned to the ground, First National Bank and other downtown buildings were saved. The new fire department serviced an immediate area of six hundred square miles, including grass-covered prairies, Palo Duro Canyon, the communities of Canyon, Happy and Umbarger, and nearby rural dwellings. It led to the establishment of Canyon's first system of water works, modernizing the community. Through the years, the department has successfully made adjustments to meet challenges of the area's growth. The establishment of grain elevators, feed yards, and Buffalo Lake Wildlife Refuge, and the passage of trains carrying hazardous materials through Canyon required additional training and equipment. In 1962, the department formed an emergency unit and in 1971, introduced a snorkel unit to fight fires at tall institutional buildings, like those of West Texas State University (now West Texas A&M University). In 1973, Canyon Annual Fire Control School opened, providing training to firefighters throughout the Texas Panhandle. Today, the Canyon Fire Department continues to offer personal protection for residents of this community and rural areas, as well as for thousands of visiting students, educators and tourists. (2009)