The largest fire loss in Wichita history occurred in the Boeing Aircraft Office Building on the night of February 17, 1959 with a loss of $1,450,000. The fire started on the roof of the four-story building and as it collapsed, water lines to sprinkler systems were broken, firefighters had to fight water flowing knee-deep down the stairs to reach the burning fourth floor. The fire damage was limited to the top floor and most of the damage was by water.

A rash of grass fires in March of 1959, resulted in a record of seventy-seven alarms in one day. Seventy-three attributed to burning grass, also a citizen was killed when a fire truck, rushing to a crass fire, crashed into the citizen's car.

A crackdown on violators of the trash burning ordinance was ordered by the City Manager Backstrom. As a result on one day, 101 citizens filled the Municipal Courtroom to face charges of violation of the new ordinance.

New No. 7 Station at St. Paul and 13th Street opened that spring. This replaced the old station at Franklin and Porter built in 1922.

In November, 1959, integration came to the Fire Department when eighteen black firemen from No. 3 Station were reassigned to other previously all white stations. Although black firefighters had worked with white firefighters before the turn of the century at the first No. 3 Station (13th and St. Francis) and at the second No. 3 Station (17th and Topeka), this was the first real attempt to integrate the entire department. When this move was announced, there was grumbling by the white and black firemen alike, which soon dissipated after the exchange was made. It should be pointed out that while black firefighters were segregated, they were always considered a part of the Wichita Fire Department and certainly contributed their share to building the outstanding department that we presently have.

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