The Sand Springs Fire Department (SSFD) was founded in 1913 when Town Marshal, Robert Fleenor, was elected Fire Chief of the Sand Springs Volunteer Fire Department. In March 1913, the bucket brigade was replaced with 500 feet of hose purchased by the city. Charles Page donated another 500 feet of hose. 

Chief Fleenor had to unhitch his team of horses from his delivery wagon and hitch to the fire wagon if there was a fire in the town. It is said that after a fire, he would sometimes leave the fire wagon at the scene, as there was no place to actually house it. Chief Fleenor's horses were used for the fire wagon until they were lost when his livery stable caught fire in 1915 due to spontaneous combustion. 

Growth in Numbers

Some of the early records from the Oklahoma State Firefighter's Pension System show that in 1921 the SSFD had one paid firefighter (Chief C.G. Stricklen) with nine on-call firefighters. These firefighters were not employed by the city. Instead, they were paid for each of their responses when fire alarms came in. 

In 1922 the department had two companies with ten volunteer firefighters and one paid firefighter. The city hired its second paid firefighter in 1923. In 1928, the city hired another full-time firefighter bringing the total to three. This additional firefighter was lost in 1936 when staffing was cut to two firefighters. 

In 1950, the city had five paid firefighters and thirteen volunteer firefighters. They year of 1957 saw an additional full-time firefighter added to the roster and two more volunteers, bringing staffing to six full-time and 15 volunteer firemen. The SSFD grew to 28 paid firefighters during the tenure of Fire Chief Sam Harvey. The last volunteer firefighters retired in 1985. The last two volunteers were Roy Morrison and William Forsythe.

New Fire Stations

A second fire station was built around 1970 to protect the southern Sand Springs area commonly referred to as Prattville.  In 1981 a new building was erected for Station 1. The original Station 1 was torn down and now the land is the alley between City Hall and the current Station 1.  Planning and Design work is underway to replace both of these stations.

Administration Relocation

Since 2004 the authorized strength of the fire department is three companies responding out of two fire stations, with an administrative staff of three including the Fire Chief, Deputy Fire Chief, and Fire Marshal. In a historic move, Fire Department Administration was relocated into a former attorney's office at 108 East Broadway Street in 2004, as well.  Thus, the fire chief's office was located outside of the central fire station for the first time in 90 years.

Contact Chief Wade

A History of Fire Chiefs