Only one man has been killed while serving in the Lewistown Fire Department as a direct result of a fire.

George Dalby was overcome by gasses given off from a galvanized roofing at a fire on July 4, 1933, at Hamilton Ranch, formerly the Day Dairy. Dalby complained of a headache and Chief Baker sent him to the hospital where he died.

George Dalby

Not only have the faces at the Lewistown Fire Department changed through the years but so has the equipment.

The apparatus of the volunteer "company" first was a Burton hand pump which was purchased for $90 and two ladders that were bought shortly after that time.

The first alarm was sounded by a gunshot from the station. A few years later the department purchased the old Episcopal Church bell for $25 to be used instead.

According to a contract within the records, the next bell was used by the department until the war when it was loaned to the Army Air Force for use at the Lewistown Air Base, but the Air Force never used it.

In 1976 the same bell was restored and put in front of the present fire station as part of a bicentennial project.

In 1903 the department bought a triplex pump and hose reel and a hook and ladder for $350 were added the next year.

The alarm system, which was operated by gravity battery with a game well striker, was installed in 1905.

In December of 1906 a team, harnesses and collars were purchased for $1,060.25. The horses, Jean a sorrel who weighed in at 1,320 pounds, and stood 16 hands high, and Jess a grey at 1,360, and also as tall, served until April 1917 at which time they were sold to the Montana Lumber Company.

History says one of the horses died of old age and the other had to be put away due to an accident in which it got tangled up in a set of harrows and developed blood poisoning.

Neither horse lost a shift in the years of service.

The horses were brought in from their range in Musselshell County by Jeff Sherman who had purchased them from John Cooley.

He in turn sold them to the city and he and John Bebb trained them to harness for four months before they were put into service.

Records indicate that the horses were kept in the rear of the present station, one on each side of the wagon.

When the alarm rang, a latch on their stall doors was raised and the door opened by a series of weights. The horses walked under their harnesses, which hung from the ceiling.

Being high-spirited horses, it was hard to hold them until the collars were snapped into place. Once the harness was on they were ready to go as the lines were already at the driver'’ seat and the tugs in place.

The two horses weren’t the only animals at the station during those years. The department had a mascot named Bosco; he was part timber wolf and was black in color.

Bosco

"Mike" and "Do-Do" were nicknames given to the two American LaFrance pumpers which the department purchased - - the first in 1913 and the second in 1917.

"Do-Do" a 105 horsepower truck was purchased in December of 1913. The truck carried 1,200 feet of hose and had such equipment as a pompier or scaling ladder, a deluge set, cellar nozzle and a life net.

"Mike" was a 75 horsepower engine and carried 800 feet of hose. It had a 40-gallon chemical tank and 200 feet of chemical hose. It also carried to pyrenes (fire extinguishers) and three smoke helmets.

Following the purchase of the two engines, the old horse-drawn wagon wash converted in trailer and carried 100 feet of hose.

In about 1913, a Ford chassis with a front mounted pumper was added to the department and November of 1948 a similar unit was added. Today the city uses the "48" as a pickup and the 1938 model is used at the airport as a back-up unit for the airport complex.

The aerial ladder truck was a Seagrave Model with a 65-foot ladder and a 750-gallon per minute pump. This unit, which included V-12 engine, was purchased in 1941 and listed as a 1942 model. It is presently in service as a back-up unit for the O’Donnell Fire Service in Billings. Both that truck and the 1952 GMC pumper were traded in 1977.

The rural district was formed in 1956, at which time an International piston pumper was purchased. That pumper is still in service today.