In 1893 and again in 1907 the Turlock area suffered two major fires that destroyed many of its existing downtown structures. To help combat future fire catastrophes, the merchants of Turlock banned together to buy the town's first fire pump and become part of the county's existing fire district. The year was 1908, Turlock was newly incorporated into cityhood and the population was beginning to grow.
In 1912 the county's fire district was dissolved and the new Turlock Volunteer Fire District was formed, with E.B. Osborn serving as the first fire chief. The city's first fire station was built on Front Street next to Hotel Carolyn and was used until around 1950.
As Turlock grew so did the fire department. In 1917 a Model T pumper was purchased and in 1922 the department acquired both a pumper and the city's first ladder truck. A fire horn was installed in Central Park, which emitted a series of blasts from an air tank. These blasts were actually a code for a particular street intersection. Firefighters would hear the blasts, and use a codebook to determine where the fire was located. As newer technology was developed, a switchboard and a phone system were adopted allowing the on duty firefighter to alert other volunteers and get a better and quicker response to emergency calls.
In the early 1950's Fire station #1 was moved to Minaret & Hamilton and Fire Station #2 was opened on the corner of Florence and Orange Streets. In 1957, Carol Chittock, the first full-time paid Fire Chief was hired. Since then five fire chiefs have taken charge of Turlock's department, each implementing newer and better services.
Today, the Turlock Fire Department has evolved into a highly skilled organization of full-time personnel. Engine companies are based in four stations strategically located throughout the city. Each station is staffed with a minimum of three firefighters who rotate working 48 hour shifts, 365 days a year; thus Turlock has Fire and Emergency Medical Service (EMS) protection at all times.
As you can see the Turlock Fire Department has come a long way since its early days of fire horns and Model T pumpers. Please take time to browse through the other sections of the web page to find out what the Turlock Fire Department offers today and what it hopes to offer its citizens in the future.
1912 | The county fire district was dissolved in 1912 and a new city volunteer fire department was formed, with E.B. Osborn as Chief (his store served as a temporary fire station). |
| (The first fire station was located on Front Street next to the Hotel Carolyn near the parking lot next to Juras Pizza sometime around 1915). |
| The Orange Street water tower was erected. |
7-16-12 | The Turlock Fruit and Juice Co. fire |
9-30-12 | The Denair-Gall Building caught fire. There was much praise for the Turlock Fire Department in stopping this fire. |
1914 | Around this time was the first mention of “Fire Trucks”. Probably the two Osborn Store delivery trucks used for hauling hose and equipment to fires. |
1915 | First mention of Fire Alarm Pull Boxes being set up around town. |
| First mention of the fire station being moved from its current quarters (Osborn store) to the Carolyn Garage. |
| Fire escapes began to be checked and required for all businesses. |
1-10-15 | The Christian Church fire occurred and took 4 hours to extinguish; this was the 2nd fire in a week. |
6-21-15 | The Wonderland Theater Fire. The fire started in the operating room and was extinguished by the TFD. But the fire had spread to a space between the ceiling and roof and the building burned to the ground. The building was a total loss. |
1916 | The Fire Bell is sold to Ceres. |
| Members received $1.50 per call. |
| In the fall of 1916, a fire muster was held which included a water fight, a hose laying contest, and a parade for the Melon Carnival. Modesto Fire attended. |
1917 | New FD quarters are secured in the Carolyn Hotel complex. |
| A Gamewell fire alarm system was purchased and installed. The city was split into districts to which the horn could activate codes. A general alarm was one bell. Three bells rang at 8a.m. and 8p.m. for testing purposes. |
| Cards were printed for TFD members that showed the locations of fire hydrants. |
5-4-17 | The final fire occurred in the Denair-Gall building, completely destroying the old nuisance. |
1918 | The 1917 Model T pumper was purchased. |
5-21-20 | A fire occurred at the Carolyn causing $10,000 in damage. |
1922 | The 1922 LaFrance Pumper is purchased. This unit was nicknamed "The Frog". The engine was equipped with mechanical brakes on the rear wheels which required all of the engineer's strength to push the brake pedal down to stop it. When this occurred the engine would hop all over the roadway like a frog.
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12-22-32 | A large fire occurred at the Knudsen (Fred) Warehouse Packing Sheds on North Front Street. Firefighter Lavon New was injured and had to be rescued. He suffered critical smoke inhalation. The fire caused $15,000 in damage and took nine hours to bring under control. |
7-21-33 | The Osborn and Son store fire occurred causing $75,000 in damage. |
4-4-44 | Jack Freitas became the city's first paid firefighter. |
7-15-44 | The Snow White Laundry fire occurred. It was gutted by a flash fire at 4:45 a.m. and caused $20,000 in damage. |
7-25-46 | The Turlock Theater fire at Broadway and Olive occurred, causing a large amount of damage. |
1950 | Fire station #1 was moved to its new quarters at 271 Minaret. |
| Fire station #2 was built at the intersection of Orange and Florence streets. |
3-9-53 | A fire at Pickett's Garage and Pete's Market on S. Broadway occurred causing $65,000 in damage. |
8-12-54 | The TFD Rescue Truck and Rescue Squad went into service. The money was donated by the Red Cross and the unit was built by George Tallman. A 12 man rescue squad was established with Captain Jack Berlau heading the group. The squad quickly registered 28 saves in its first five years. The rescue squad consisted of 13 paid and volunteer members trained in rescue skills. |
1956 | Turlock Fire Department members
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1956 | Joel Nikolauson was named Fire Chief after the retirement of Lloyd Cunningham. |
| Assistant Chief Phil Lundquist died, several months after having a minor heart attack at the Bank of America fire. |
1957 | Carol Chittock was hired as fire chief from Santa Ana fire department where he was a captain. He was the first full time fire chief. |
3-9-59 | A large fire destroyed the Tri-K Enterprises plastics factory on Columbia Street. A portion of a house next door was burned. There was $75,000 in damage to the structures. |
3-30-59 | A fire occurred at the Greyhound Depot on N Center Street causing $5,000 in damage. |
5-60 | A large fire occurred at the sales yard located at Highway 99 & Fulkerth road. Multiple fire departments responded and a large warehouse was destroyed. |
5-61 | A fire occurred at the Monteith Tractor Building. A discarded cigarette caused major damage to the front of the store. |
11-21-62 | A fire completely destroyed the Delhart Mattress Company. The fire was fought by the Turlock, Turlock Rural, Denair, and Stanislaus County fire departments. The building was located under the overpass at F Street and damages totaled $70,000. |
8-22-63 | A fire occurred in the Turlock High School music building. There was $70,000 in damage due to floor lacquer touched off by a pilot light. |
3-17-1980 | Fire heavily damaged Sabrina's Restaurant (formerly the Pixie Pancake House) on N Golden State Blvd. |
1981 | City Fire Alarm “pull” boxes were removed. Electronic pagers were used by volunteers to respond to emergencies. |
5-81 | The new Fire Station 2 was opened on South Walnut, replacing the Orange street station. |
3-15-86 | Chris Carlson was hired as Fire Chief after Chief Hughes left in October of 1985. |
6-17-86 | The Buy-Way Market fire occurred, completely destroying the business. |
12-20-86 | The Turlock Hotel fire on W. Main street occurred, heavily damaging the old hotel and businesses below. |
1991 | Chief Chris Carlson left for La Mesa fire department. |
1992 | Robert Carlson was promoted to Fire Chief. |
1996 | Chief Robert Carlson retired. |
| Mark Langley becomes Chief of the Turlock Fire Department. |
1997 | A large fire occurred on West Main street, destroying three businesses, including the old Woolworth's building. Multiple Stanislaus County fire agencies responded as mutual aid. The fire burned throughout the night and was declared out the next day. The fire was later determined to be arson and a suspect was apprehended, tried, and jailed. |
5-24-99 | Seven months after a large fire struck the old Emanuel Hospital on East Canal Drive, a second fire struck, damaging the old building beyond repair. In 2000, the building was razed. |
2001 | The city purchased a Pierce 105 foot aerial ladder truck. |
2003 | Major renovations were made to the fire department drill grounds. The ventilation prop was completed and ground was broken on the training burn room. |
4-22-05 | The old Tri-Valley building fire occurred. Most of the vacant South Golden State Boulevard cannery was destroyed. The south portion of the warehouse was saved by firefighter's efforts and the help of a fire wall. Multiple fire departments responded to help fight the large blaze.
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7-18-05 | Rainbow Fabrics, located at 134 West Main Street, was severely damaged by fire. A faulty electrical cord was to blame for the fire's cause. The Turlock Fire Department was able to keep the fire from spreading to adjacent downtown buildings. |
11-23-05 | The Carnegie Arts Center fire occurred. The historic building, built in 1916, was gutted after thieves started a fire in an attempt to cover up a burglary. The fire was discovered just before 6 a.m. and declared out at 9:30 a.m. Multiple departments responded including Turlock Rural, Denair and Mountain View fire departments. The roof, contents and a new addition were destroyed. There is a current effort underway to save the remains of the historic building. |
2006 | The old Turlock Fire Department museum building was torn down and construction started on the new Fire Station #1 (located directly behind the current Fire Station #1). The Turlock Fire Department hired seven firefighters. The firefighters increased staffing from two-person to three-person engine companies on over half of the department's companies. | |
4-30-2006 | A large warehouse fire occurred at 401 3rd Street. The warehouse was used for storing and processing almond hash. Although the 25,000 square foot building was a complete loss, multiple residences along S Broadway were saved. The warehouse was bordered by 3rd Street, C Street, D Street and an alley behind South Broadway. Among firefighters, this incident has come to be called the "C" street fire. |
7-12-2006 | The Minerva's Fire occurred at 201 West Main Street. A transient started the fire in an outside storage unit. The fire spread into the main building through a freight escalator. Fourteen engines and more than 40 firefighters from Turlock City, Turlock Rural, Modesto, Ceres, Keyes, Denair & Westport fought the blaze. The building and contents were declared a total loss. |
2-07-2007 | Matty's Market fire on West Main Street occurred |
4-19-2007 | Matty's Market fire - A second fire occurred. |
5-01-2009 | TFD became a fully paid department when the reserve firefighter division was discontinued. |
5-28-2009 | The Red Steer fire occurred causing approximately one million dollars in damage. |
6-16-2010 | The Yerena's Pallet Company fire occurred, also involving Brite Electric & Shehan's Transport Refrig at D & S. First streets. Initial estimates put the damages at $300,000. |
6-30-2010 | Fire Chief Mark Langley retired after 14 years as chief and 30 years overall in the department. |
7-01-2010 | Tim Lohman was appointed Interim Fire Chief. |
3-8-11 | Tim Lohman officially appointed to Fire Chief. |
7-1-11 | Three new firefighters hired through the SAFER Grant. |
2-19-13 | The former Lactalis Cheese Plant fire completely destroyed the vacant plant after started a fire (and were later convicted). Three trucks (Turlock, Ceres & Modesto) controlled the fire defensively. Damage was estimated at $5 million.
There were three other structure fires reported (unrelated) that night after the start of the Lactalis Fire. |
6-6-14 | Three new firefighters started after the 2013 retirements of fire Captains Chalupnik and Drumonde. |
7-4-14 | Captain Mathew Seilheimer retired. |
8-15-15 | Fire Chief Tim Lohman retired after 5 years as chief and 35 years overall in the department (3 as a volunteer and 32 years career). |
8-28-15 | The Equip Church at Columbia & S Orange streets was destroyed by fire. Eight county agencies assisted. Damaged estimated at $270,000. |
12-14-15 | Fire Chief Robert "Bob" Talloni hired as Turlock's 11th Fire Chief. |
regarding any comments, inaccuracies, or additional Turlock Fire Department historical information. Of particular interest is photos and information regarding the first fire station located on Front Street from approximately 1915 to 1950.