Located within Old City Cemetery and next to the Volunteer Fireman's Plot are a few memorials and historical markers, including an old bell that once operated at a firehouse long gone. Among these memorials is a historical marker that highlights the Volunteer Fire Department, established in 1850 and the first fire department in California. The marker reads:
SACRAMENTO'S VOLUNTEER FIRE DEPARTMENT
1850 - 1872The MUTUAL HOOK AND LADDER COMPANY, formed on February 5, 1850, was the first fire company in the State of California. It served with distinction until disbanded October 30, 1859.
On June 23, 1858, a grateful city donated this plot of ground to its Volunteer Fire Department for the internment of its deceased members. It is the only known maintained firemen's plot west of the Mississippi.
Sacramento's Volunteer Fire Department consisted of six Engine Companies, one Hook and Ladder, and a Hose Company. The Volunteer Fire Department gallantly served the city until April 1, 1872 when an act by the state legislature established paid departments.
Plaque Erected by: Pioneer Mutual Hook & Ladder
IAFF Local 522
Old City Cemetery Committee |
Another nearby interpretive display highlights the Firemen's Plot and reads:
THE FIREMEN'S PLOT
"FIRST IN DANGER AND ALWAYS READY"
This inscription, engraved on a silver trumpet presented to Engine Company No. 3 in 1853, a token of appreciation, perhaps best describes Sacramento's volunteer fire department as a whole.
As almost every other city whose beginnings were of tents and wooden structures, fire was a constant threat to early Sacramento. Destroyed in part or entirely by numerous conflagrations, cities and towns of lesser fortitude and determination would have vanished.
But Sacramento was determined to survive and the call went out to form a volunteer fire company to fight back. The call was answered, and Sacramento claimed the honor of having organized the first fire company in the State of California when Mutual Hook and Ladder No. 1 went on line in February of 1850. It was soon followed by Confidence Engine Company No. 1, March 1, 1850; Protection Engine Company No. 2, March 22, 1851, and Sacramento Engine Company No. 3, March 27, 1851.
Each of the fire companies was made up of 60 to 65 men and by 1860 there were 5 pumpers and two or three ladder companies manned by over 400 volunteers. The volunteers raised money for house furniture, equipment, uniforms and for their "Cemetery Fund" by staging benefit dances, parties, concerts and picnics. One picnic in 1867 yielded $1200 for the Cemetery Fund ($20021.79 in 2014 dollars).
The State Legislature passed an act to establish a paid fire department. Sacramento's Volunteer Fire Department would continue to serve with valor and distinguish itself until October 1, 1872, when it was declared out of service.
If these men were to speak they might say, "Remember that as you are, so once was I, and as I am, you will be."
George King, Retired Engineer
The FIREMEN'S PLOT donated by the Sacramento City Council to the Volunteer Fire Department on June 23, 1858, a memorial to the city's gallant firefighters.