Looking west, from the top of the Ramona Hotel, this February 21, 1941, photograph shows the frenetic aftermath of a fire at the El Rey Hotel at 519 J Street. The fire started in one of the theater’s balconies and was likely the result of...
This August 12, 1948, photograph shows the firefighters of Carmichael Fire Protection District No. 1 and Fire Chief Dan Donovan, Assistant Fire Chief Fontain Johnson and Commissioner Bob Wall standing next to fire engine No. 7, a 1946-7...
One of several riverboats lists afire in this August 28, 1932, photograph. The fire started at 12:45 a.m. on the west bank of the Sacramento River. During the incident, riverside flora caught fire priming flames to make their way toward the I...
A 1948 photograph Fire Chief Dan Donovan, Assistant Fire Chief Fontain Johnson and Commissioner Bob Wall, standing next to fire engine No. 7, a 1946-7 International/Van Pelt pumper fire engine.
Shown on August 28, 1932, is a fire that claimed River Lines company’s freighters Sacramento, Valetta, San Joaquin No. 2, San Joaquin No. 4, San Jose, Flora, Jacinto and Colusa, and barges Maryland and Alabama. An additional victim in the fire...
"The newest and perhaps the handsomest building occupied by the (Fire) department is Hook and Ladder House No. 1, situated on the corner of the alley on Sixth Street, between K and L" is how the Sacramento Bee for April 19, 1890, described the...
This December 1932 photograph shows the recently-built fire house of the Sacramento Fire Department's Engine Company Number 8. Upon completion, The Spanish-style house won several awards for its structural and landscape architecture. The station,...
A stream of water is directed at a fire at McDonald Paint & Hardware Co. (188 El Camino Ave.) by a firefighter perched atop a fire ladder. Nearby businesses also threatened by the fire are the El Camino Bowl (1194 El Camino Ave.) whose sign...
This digital image of a burned out Leroy’s Jewelers was taken on the evening of December 29, 2003. The building caught fire in May 2000, exacting over 150,000 dollars in damage and drawing a three alarm response of over 45 firefighters. Up to...
This circa 1910 postcard shows the Eureka Engine Company Number Four Fire House and the office of the Fire Department's Chief Engineer, located at 1017 Fifth Street. The building was constructed in 1855 and survived until redevelopment in the...
The Young America Engine Company Number 6 firehouse at 915 Ninth Street celebrated 75 years of service in January of 1933 with a large party and an even larger cake. According to newspaper accounts of the event, held in what was then known as Plaza...
Photographed between 1920 and 1923 is the Fremont Presbyterian Church at Fifteenth and O Streets. Due to a wiring defect, the church was destroyed by a morning fire on September 23, 1923. The first witness to the fire, paperboy W.J. Howie,...
This circa 1915 photograph shows members of the Isleton Fire Department posing before their chemical engine. Community growth, due in no small part to a tremendous asparagus industry, necessitated institutions dedicated to ensuring not simply...
This photograph of the St. Nicholas Hotel, located at 1118 Fourth Street, was taken on September 16, 1932. A seminal moment for the Sacramento Fire Department came shortly after a March 1918 fire killed four tenants at the St. Nicholas. Although...
This December 2, 1947, photograph shows Goodwill Industries at 1117-1121 Sixth Street. The Goodwill had been operating in Sacramento since November of 1933 and moved out of the pictured 11,000 square-foot structure in 1949 for a new facility at...
This January 1, 1933, photograph captures a firefighting reenactment, held to celebrate the Seventy-Fifth anniversary of the Young American Engine Company Number Six. In the wake of a November 1852 fire that destroyed 70 percent of the central...
This July 4, 1910, photograph shows horse-drawn fire engines parading along K Street, between Fourth and Fifth Streets. 30,000 Sacramentans witnessed the Independence Day parade which featured horses. Several awards were given for the fittest and...
Shown on August 28, 1932, is one of the several boats that were lost to fire along the River Lines docks. The fire of unknown origins was said to have started on 500-ton freighter, Valetta, which, with other craft, was moored just south of the I...
This August 28, 1932, photograph shows the fire-engulfed wood and iron remains of River Lines boats, moored along the west banks of the Sacramento River. Priming the conflagration were powerful winds, dry conditions which had lasted for weeks, and...
