Tacoma’s Great Fires of 1903
A year-end audit of the city's fire department reveals a staggering $309,000 in property loss, largely driven by massive blazes at industrial warehouses and cereal mills.
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.
Chief Jesse C. Poyne of the Tacoma fire department filed the department's fifteenth annual report today. During the year, the department responded to 222 alarms, resulting in a total property loss of $309,566.15. The most significant losses occurred at the Security Storage warehouse ($48,000), Pacific Meat company ($94,337), Richmond Paper company and Great Western Stove company ($45,339), and the Cascade Cereal company ($96,629). Chief Poyne noted that the department remains hampered by a lack of hydrants, particularly in industrial zones like the tide flats, and strongly recommends the acquisition of a dedicated fire boat to protect the waterfront from future conflagrations.
“The department was handicapped owing to the water main being cut... the channel was dry and the engines had to be moved.”
This report highlights the vulnerability of Tacoma’s early industrial waterfront, which was built of wood and poorly fireproofed. The Chief's call for a fire boat predates the modern specialized equipment now patrolling the Port of Tacoma, reflecting a century-long civic effort to secure the city's economic engines against the constant threat of disaster.
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