History of the
Beloit Fire Department 1854-1982compiled by Herb Christiansen
. . . It has been 128 years since fire raged through several mercantile buildings on Turtle (now State) Street in the young and growing settlement of Beloit. Though there must have been earlier fires, the burning of E. D. Murray's store prompted the weekly Beloit Journal to comment on the "utter foolishness of the village to remain so long without necessary means of extinguishing fires and preventing their extension."
Whereupon, A. J. Battin, a former New York City fireman, organized a drive to raise money to buy the city its first "water witch" fire wagon and recruited a company of volunteers. That was Beloit's first "fire department." Not until 30 years later did the city have a central water system. And not until 1887 was the first paid force of firefighters established.
This book traces the history of Beloit's battle against fire. It is a story of the fire service from that beginning in 1854 to . . . [1982.] and it is a chronicle of the major fires dating back to the one that broke out the night of April 6, 1854, at the rear of E. D. Murray's store, supposedly the work of arsonists.
The story of firefighters, the fire apparatus, the firehouses, and the fires in Beloit's history might never have been so completely and accurately recorded, had it not been for Herbert V. (Christy) Christiansen. He was Beloit's 10th fire chief [under a paid department] and he retired in 1979.
. . . Christy spent more than a year searching and researching, collecting old photos and records, writing and editing to put together this history of the Beloit Fire Department. . .
. . . Generations of Beloiters have rightly been proud of their Fire Department. From its beginning, it has been a well equipped, well trained and disciplined organization, dedicated to the protection of lives and property. This book honors all those who have served with it.
Bill Behling, from the introduction