100 YEARS OLD
CENTENNIAL 1855-1955

In 1955, the town added a second two ton truck to their fire fighting equipment. This one had a 1000 gallon water tank and a portable 500 gallon per minute pump as well as two 150 foot, two and a half inch hose lines with nozzles and 1000 feet of 4 inch hose for feeding the truck directly from the water hydrants. 

Through a special tax arrangement Clay township had assisted Steamboat Rock in the purchase of both of the trucks that now comprised the two truck fire department. 

On January 1, 1973, Harold H. Luiken submitted a request to be relieved of the duties as Fire Chief, to the town council. He had served in that capacity for nearly 38 years. The council accepted this request and appointed Jerry Knight as fire chief. 

In 1975, the number one fire truck that had been purchased in 1950 was traded in on the purchase of a new modern truck and equipment. This new truck was a model 750 Ford chassis with a 600 gallon water tank, two electric hose reels with 150 foot hoses, two coils of two and a half inch hose 150 feet long with nozzles, an inline foam tank assembly which provided for foam applications on gas, oil and grease fires. Safety equipment consisted of three asbestos suits, two compressed air tanks and masks for fighting fires with heavy smoke or poisonous gas conditions. The unit was also equipped with a 600 gallon per minute pump and a 1000 gallon capacity tank which could be used as an auxiliary water supply in fighting rural fires. 

In addition to the two trucks a pickup that carries 1000 feet of 4 inch supplement hose for feeding the truck when the location of a water hydrant was farther away than the 1000 feet of hose the number one truck carried. 

Steamboat Rock has, for many years had a formidable fire department for fighting fires in town and country.