|
1949
|
Firefighter Wood in a lighter moment.
Late 1940's - Dispatchers booth - Station No. 2, Ford and Byron Dozer.
1949 - Fred Bell at Station No. 10.
May 5, 1949 - Chief Brown's funeral at the First Methodist Church.
| On May 1, 1949, the Wichita Fire Department lost one of its finest leaders in the history of the department when Chief Brown passed away. He had been stricken with a heart attack and died in a local hospital. In honor of this man, the flag at City Hall was flown at half-mast, and the City Building was closed at noon on the day of his funeral. His list of accomplishments was long, and the image he presented was good, the mayor said of him, "The City had lost one of its greatest public servants." He was fifty-two years old and had served the department for twenty-nine years.
The seventh Chief of the department was appointed on May 2, 1949, when Assistant Chief F.E. Wood was named Fire Chief. Chief Wood, fifty years old, had been a member of the department for twenty-seven years and had been Assistant Chief since 1942. He immediately named District Chief A.L. Gray as his Assistant and continued the work he and the late Chief Brown had been involved with, the opening of No. 10 Station at 17th and Grove, and planning for new No. 4 Station at Martinson and Douglas.
In September, Chief Wood was married to Frankie Biggs. After the wedding, they were shivareed by friends and department members who drove them around town in the hose bed of an ancient fire truck.
The 1949 Fire Prevention Week for the first time featured a safety program for school children, held outside, with the Wichita Fire Department sound truck, a Police Car and a Red Cross ambulance used as backdrops. Speakers for the Fire Department were Inspectors Clarke Longnecker, Carl E. Jones and Bob Simpson, and for the Police, Officers Elmer Million and Floyd Hannon, while Roy Coonfield represented the Red Cross.
The second 100 ft. aerial was delivered to the department in December of 1949. After Chief Wood addressed members of the Rotary, he treated the members to a demonstration of the new aerial equipment.
The 1940's had begun with turmoil, unrest and notoriety, and the administration had changed hands no less than four times. By the end of the decade, the problems that had plagued the early years had been corrected.
Back to Top
|
 |
|
|
Related to 10 - New Leaders |
|
|
|
|
|
|