The City of Liberal was platted and incorporated as a 3rd class city in 1888. Like most growing cities and towns in Kansas fire protection was provided by the citizens themselves via bucket brigade. In the late 1800’s the city began installing water lines in the downtown area and purchased a hose wagon. This wagon was pulled to the scene of a fire by either men or horses and hooked into the water system. The pressure to the nozzle was provided by manpower working the pump handles.
On the evening of June 5th, 1916, the Liberal Fire Department was organized and confirmed by the city council. Ed Kindschi was appointed as Fire Chief; Sam Hubbard as Assistant Chief; J.A. Marrow, Driver; Billy Orr, Captain; Tom Horn, Secretary-Treasurer. The Board of Trustees were: A.L. Jones, L.L. Holland and Bert Whims. The other members of the department were: Ralph Bangs, Joe Stickler, Lawrence Wimmer, J.F. Hirn, E.A Howell & Harry Malone. The constitution and bylaws were provided by the Eureka Fire Hose Mfg. Company and were accepted with a few alterations to fit the department.
Just one week prior to the organization of the department, the city took delivery of its first fire truck. This truck was manufactured by the Brockway Motor Truck Company of Cortland, New York at t cost of $3,000. The new “fire wagon” was equipped with a 40 horsepower Continental engine. It carried 1,250 feet of 2 ½” hose, several ladders, two hand extinguishers and a soda acid pump. It was considered to be one of the best on the market at the time.
Next was purchased a fire whistle that was mounted on the top of City Hall at 4th & Washington. When a fire was reported the police dispatcher flipped on the siren. The firefighters would respond to the station to find out the location of the fire and responded with the equipment. In the early 1960’s the phone company worked together with the fire department to install direct lines to all firefighters’ homes & businesses. When a fire was reported the dispatcher would activate the “fire phones” sending a series of short rings. Firefighters would pick up and listen to a repeated message stating the location of the fire and respond directly to that location.
Over the years the department evolved and grew to meet the needs of a growing city. In 1929 Kenneth Ravencraft was the first man to stay in the fire station throughout the night to respond to fires. Through these years the department was an all-volunteer organization responding to fire calls in the City of Liberal, Seward County, and the Oklahoma panhandle as needed. In September 1968 the city hired four full-time firefighters and appointed the first full-time fire chief, R.L. Riney.
By the mid-1970’s the department operated with six full-time firefighters, a fire chief and fire inspector along with fourteen volunteers. This allowed for one firefighter on duty in each of two stations 24 hours a day. The equipment in the stations consisted of three engines, a sixty-five-foot snorkel truck and two airport units with foam, light water and dry chemical extinguishing agent.
As the city grew into a City of the 1st Class, so did the fire department to provide fire protection and emergency medical response within the city limits. By the year 2000, the fire department operated out of three stations (two staffed 24-hours a day and an airport station staffed as necessary). There were twelve full-time firefighter / EMT’s, fire chief, deputy chief, fire marshal and 15 volunteer firefighters. The equipment included two - 1250 gpm engines, a 105-foot aerial platform, heavy rescue truck, and medical/rescue truck.
Today the fire department is staffed with eighteen full-time firefighter / EMT’s, fire chief, deputy chief, three battalion chiefs and 12 volunteer firefighters. They staff three stations 24-hours a day equipped with four fire engines, 105-foot aerial platform, reserve aerial platform, two medical response pickups, heavy rescue truck, squad truck, four officer vehicles, Oshkosh Stryker ARFF vehicle and reserve ARFF pickup with skid unit. They provide a wide variety of public services and maintain an ISO rating of 3.