In 1834 when the Delaware Fire Department was first organized, all personnel were volunteers or “Minute Men,” as they were referred to, until approximately 1870 when full-time drivers for the various pieces of apparatus were hired.
Fire trumpets were used in the early days for the chief officers to shout orders to the firemen at the scene of a fire.
The use of horses to transport fire equipment to the fire scene began in 1870-74 and continued until 1924 when the last horse drawn ladder-chemical unit was taken out of service.
Apparatus and pumping equipment have have changed through the years, from the first hand engines to pumper trucks with booster tanks and hose beds.
Early training consisted of a 10-hour Red Cross first aid course and the only equipment was a portable E. & I. resuscitator.
Efforts were made in the early days of the Village of Delaware to regulate hazards that might cause fire. In 1951, the first formal Fire Prevention Code was passed.
Formal housing of apparatus and equipment came with the first organization of Delaware’s Fire protection in 1834. The space needed in the beginning was small but soon grew.
The department hired full-time paid drivers with the change to horse drawn apparatus in 1874. The paid members were supplemented with 10-20 volunteers called Minute Men.
Two family names held the title of Fire Chief in the Delaware Fire Department from Jan. 1st, 1941 until Apri1 16, 1986. This ended more than 45 years of service as Fire Chief by the two families.
Early water supply for fire protection consisted of wells with hand pumps to fill buckets which were passed along a line of men to the hand fire pumps. The empty buckets were then passed back by a second line to the source to be refilled.