Hale: The Firepole

Hale: The Firepole. . , Imagine this scene in 1850… a dry, hot summer day in the newly incorporated town of Kansas City. The street is crowded with wooden structures. Suddenly, swirls of black smoke stream from a saloon roof. The church bells begin to ring, calling for every citizen to join the bucket brigade – their only source of water, from the standing pools in nearby ravines. It was a wild, disorganized affair, and often more buildings were destroyed than saved., But all that began to change in 1867, with the purchase of Kansas City’s first fire engine and the formation of the first volunteer fire company. Unfortunately, the city soon found that keeping volunteers wasn’t easy, and by the end of 1871, the city put its firemen on the payroll., Then in 1882, the city hired George C. Hale as its first professional fire chief. He ran a crack team, even entering them in international competitions. Kansas City’s fire department gained worldwide recognition, but it was Hale’s innovative contributions to fire fighting that remain his most important legacy., Among his inventions was the Hale Swinging Harness, which would allow horses to be harnessed to the fire wagon within a few seconds. Hale also invented the water tower, which was capable of shooting 5 ½ tons of water per minute; as well as the automatic fire alarm, which would alert a city’s central fire station to the location of a fire., But perhaps his most creative invention of all was the deceptively simple firepole – today it remains the fastest mode of travel between upstairs sleeping quarters and the door to the hook and ladder truck.