Fire was a constant threat in Kansas City’s early history. Most homes were built of wood and heated with coal. Chimney fires were common, and every second mattered to crews battling them.

Ray Elder, Official Historian Kansas City Fire Historical Societybegan documenting the history of the Kansas City Fire Department when he retired after 35 years — 16 as captain. He has written 23 books on the department’s history, dating back to the first volunteer bucket brigades in 1858.

He added that one name is synonymous with firefighting in Kansas City.

“Whenever someone says fire department, I think of George Hale,” Elder said.

George C. Hale was appointed chief of the Kansas City Fire Department in 1882 and served for 31 years. He was a mechanical genius who had a knack for solving the problems that firefighters faced in his era.

Kansas City Fire Historical Society

Teams of trained horses were used to transport equipment to and from fires between 1860 and 1927. Harnessing the horses was a time-consuming task until Hale invented the horse swing.

A quick hitch harness was suspended from the ceiling of the fire station. When the alarm sounded, the horses moved into position and the harness was quickly lowered onto their backs. The harness snapped into place and was harnessed to the horse and fire truck. Once the horses were harnessed, they were ready to gallop to the fire.

Elder said Hale trained his men to make sure every moment counted.

“They were trying to get in the fire truck and go out the door,” Elder said. “You know, when the fire truck comes out the door, you better be on it.”

The Kansas City Fire Department held the record for the fastest harness hookup of any fire department in the world—they could do it in one and a half seconds. The harness demonstrations were so successful that major cities and countries around the world clamored to see the Kansas City firefighters in action.

Hale’s unit was invited to represent the United States as the “American Fire Team” at the International Fire Congress in London in 1893.

Kansas City Fire Historical Society

In London, the competition simulated a night alarm. Men were thrown from their beds, forced to climb down stairs, harness and tie horses, and then run out of a fire station.

London spectators marveled at the speed of Hale’s firemen with their nimble white horses and artificial harness. The Kansas City crew rushed into action and completed the event in a record time of 8 1/2 seconds. The English team, using older methods, needed 3 minutes.

The Kansas City Star reported that an English aristocrat watched from the royal box during the competition. When he saw the Kansas City men rushing to their stations, their clothes automatically fastened on them, harnesses falling and being fastened to their horses, the nobleman expressed his surprise.

“I tell you, these Yankees have more tricks than a magician,” he said. “They’ve got an outfit like a fully equipped ship.”

Kansas City Fire Historical Society

Hale’s firefighters were so successful that they were invited to an audience with Queen Victoria.

Later, at the Paris Exposition in 1900, his firefighters once again raced for all the prizes, competing with fire crews from all over the world. The team became known as the most famous fire brigade in the world.

Paul Ferguson is president of the Kansas City Fire Historical Society. He said Hale’s men were trained in modern firefighting equipment and were highly disciplined.

“This department was a tight ship under Hale,” Ferguson said. “If you made a mistake, you suffered the consequences. These guys were getting punished for making wrong turns on the way to a fire.”

Kansas City Fire Historical Society

Hale always wanted to find new ways to improve firefighting.

He patented a staggering number of inventions to give firefighters the tools to do their jobs more efficiently. He invented the electric wire cutter, the door opener, the cellar nozzle, the rotating sheet metal cutter, the patent hose nozzle, the telephone fire alarm, and special equipment for horses pulling fire engines.

As buildings grew taller, firefighters needed longer ladders, bigger pumps, and longer hoses to reach fires on higher floors. One of his greatest inventions may have been Hale Water TowerIts movable, telescopic tower was originally pulled by a team of three horses, which could bring snakes even close to the highest floors of a building.

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According to Ferguson, some of Hale’s methods may have seemed unconventional at the time.

“His ideas changed our entire fire service,” Ferguson said. “He even hired circus gymnasts to teach firefighters physical fitness. We’re talking about ideas he had in 1900.”

Hale even designed the layout of the old Fire Department Headquarters (Fire Station No. 2)at 1020 Central Ave., which was built in 1906. The first floor was for equipment, the second floor for offices and a room with beds. The third floor was a gymnasium where firefighters could exercise and develop their strength.

“Our fire department of the ’70s would look strange today,” Hale told The Kansas City Star in 1919. “In those days we didn’t have a full fire uniform. Instead we wore brightly colored shirts with ‘We Die to Save’ written in large letters on the front. And on the back of our belts was the words ‘Ever Ready.’”

“The chief had a large silver trumpet with cords and fringes—I still have it—it was the forerunner of the megaphone. We had no water system. Instead, rainwater collected in ponds and pools that were scattered around the city.”

Eventually, politics caught up with Hale. He was fired in 1902 by the Kansas City Council, led by Mayor James L. Reed.

Reed wanted to award a lucrative contract to the Gamewell Company for a fire alarm system, but Hale publicly disagreed. Hale called the system unreliable and poorly designed. He also pointed out that Gamewell charged Kansas City twice as much as other cities.

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Hale lost his job, but he kept inventing. He was an authority on firefighting in his day, and was called to cities to advise departments across the country. He sold firefighting equipment as far away as Russia and Australia.

When Hale died in July 1923, The Kansas City Journal called him “one of the greatest fire chiefs in the history of modern firefighting.”