Seattle’s Desperate Need for Modern Firefighting
As the city rapidly expands, the Common Council scrambles to replace inadequate, antiquated fire gear before a disaster strikes.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
At the meeting of the Common Council of this city last evening, a resolution was passed authorizing the Mayor to correspond with the manufacturers of steam fire engines, with a view to the purchase of a machine for the use of the city of Seattle. This certainly is a movement in the right direction. The present engine is wholly insufficient in case of a fire of any considerable magnitude. Let us have a steamer by all means. Our city is liable to go at any moment, and the present appliances to fight a fire of any magnitude are entirely inadequate.
“Our city is liable to go at any moment, and the present appliances to fight a fire of any magnitude are entirely inadequate.”
In 1878, Seattle’s leadership realized that their rapidly developing wooden city was a tinderbox, mirroring the modern-day anxiety over aging infrastructure and emergency preparedness in a climate-threatened Pacific Northwest.
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