1910 saw the election of Hiram Gill as Mayor. Mayor Gill was a proponent of an "open" city where vice was tolerated under the idea that it could be controlled in that way to one district of the City.

To replace Chief Bringhurst, Mayor Gill chose Captain John Boyle of Engine 6. Captain Boyle was an old chum of the Mayor's. Since he lived in Station 6's district, Hiram Gill had spent many evenings at the station visiting and playing cards with the crew, Hiram Gill and the Captain were close friends.

John Boyle was a good, even exceptional fire fighter, having been Captain at busy Chemical No. I before being transferred to Engine 6. He was not as adept in the realm of administration where he had to deal with politicians, the business community, and the day‑to‑day running of a Fire department. Some of the Department's business was transacted around a table in one of the saloons in the Pioneer Square district near Headquarters Fire Station No. 10.

The first two motorized fire trucks, ordered from the Seagrave Company during Chief Bringhurst's term, arrived May 10, 19 10, under Chief Boyle's administration. One was a chemical wagon with two 80‑gallon sodaacid chemical tanks. It went in service at Chemical No. 1, which was now quartered in a large brick fire station with Engine 2 and Truck 2 at 3rd Avenue and Pine Street. This station was built in 1906 to replace the single‑company station on that corner that was constructed right after the Great Fire. It had become obsolete as the City's hills were regraded and the downtown and commercial district expanded north. The other new truck was a hose‑chemical combination wagon. It was put in service as the hose wagon to run with a horse‑drawn steamer as Engine Co. No. 2 5 in a newly opened fire station on Harvard Avenue and East Union Street.

The Department in 1910 finally accepted the new fireboat Duwamish. In January, Chief Bringhurst had not accepted it because defects in its piping had prevented full use of its 9,000 gallon‑per‑minute capacity. After the builder had corrected these defects, It was accepted and went into service at Engine 5. The "Snoqualmie" was put into dry-dock and rebuilt from a coalburning boat to an oil‑burner like the "Duwamish." It returned to service later in the year as a second Fireboat Company designated Engine 31 and quartered at the same station, Station No. 5. Georgetown was annexed into the City with its company becoming Hose No. 32.

Mayor Gill and his policy of a wide‑open City for vice control soon came under fire. Word of the City's policy had spread, and criminal elements from throughout the nation could be found in Seattle. The military declared Seattle "off‑limits" to servicemen on liberty. A recall petition was soon on the streets with the Seattle Times championing the cause. A recall election was scheduled for February, 1911, with George Dilling, a real estate man and state legislator, in the running against Mayor Gill. Hiram Gill was defeated after eleven months in office. In the purge that followed, the Chief of Police went to jail and Chief Boyle was targeted for replacement.

Early in April, the Mayor's office had been flooded with calls from angry parents about the foul language used by Chief Boyle in giving orders during a fire at Lincoln High School. On April 21, 1911, a Friday, the Chief was notified to resign by the next Monday or charges for his dismissal would be filed. Chief Boyle appealed to the Civil Service Commission. He was supported by one of his assistant chiefs, Tom Nunan, and by officials of several local businesses. His support, except for Chief Nunan's, melted away when the charges were disclosed on that Monday, April 24. The charges were incompetency, based on the Lincoln High School fire and two other fires; favoritism in discipline; frequenting saloons; and political activity. At 2:00 that afternoon he was fired, and once again it was William "Skipper" Clark, now an Assistant Chief, who was appointed interim Fire Chief pending selection of a permanent replacement.

That afternoon, April 24, Ex-Chief Boyle held a meeting with the new Chief and Assistant Chiefs George Marlow, Tom Nunan, William Hodder, and William Carr to discuss the Department's problems. The meeting was delayed when at 5:18 p.m. the firebox at Railroad Avenue South (Alaskan Way South) and Washington Street was pulled.

The fire was on the top floor of the five‑story masonry warehouse used by the Eyers Storage & Distributing Co." Heavy smoke issued from the waterfront side of the building. Fire fighters at first attempted to enter the fire floor from the alley fire escape, but found the window accesses blocked by heavy crates of electrical equipment. Truck 1's 8 5‑foot aerial ladder, the only aerial then in service, was raised on the Railroad Avenue side. Because of the presence of boxcars on the railroad tracks between the building and the street, the aerial had to be extended fully at a severe angle to reach the fifth floor windows. Seven fire fighters were on the ladder, some at the top with a hose line waiting for water and several others about three-quarters of the way up stretching a second line, when the ladder broke. Chief Clark's warning shout could not be heard in the confusion. Five of the fire fighters sustained injuries sufficient to be taken to the City hospital; one was not expected to survive.

Ex‑Chief Boyle was on the scene when the accident occurred. With the help of policemen, he transported the four most seriously injured to the hospital in the Chiefs automobile. Fire Fighter Fred Bayne of Truck 1, the most seriously injured, rallied that night and did manage to survive.

Back at the fire, crews gained the top floor with difficulty. The stairway was blocked by falling merchandise. Groping through heavy smoke on the fourth floor, fire fighters located an elevator shaft and attacked the fire from pompier ladders raised up the shaft to the top floor. They were assisted by two streams from outside. Smoke was still heavy when Chief Clark, Assistant Chief Nunan, and crews from Engine I and Truck 7 were able to enter the floor. Chief Nunan, overcome at one point and down on the deck, called for help from the others. He was finally pulled to safety by Truck 7's Lieutenant Lakane and revived in the fresh air.

Panic hit the large crowd of spectators across the street when a stream from the fireboat "Duwamish" opened up. It passed over their heads through a maze of power lines, which immediately started severe arcing. That started spectators running in all directions. Police finally gained control. The boat stream was ineffective because of distance and was shut down. The fire was "tapped out" at 6:55 p.m. with a loss estimated at $70,000.

Controversy within and about the Fire Department did not end here. Fire fighters in general were accused of pilfering during the overhaul of the "Eyers" fire, though the only evidence that could be supported was that Assistant Chief Nunan had taken a new pair of boots from the stock. He was cleared by Department investigation when he proved that his own boots were heavily damaged while he was overcome on the top floor. He had been walking through the remains of still‑smoldering mattresses. Mayor Dilling, however, preferred criminal charges against him, possibly because of his support of Ex-Chief Boyle. These charges were also dropped when he again proved his boots had been damaged and he needed the replacements at hand for his own protection.

Newspapers supported the Mayor's view that the only course possible for a scandal‑ridden department in a scandal‑ridden City was to find a Chief from outside. The position was advertised nation‑wide. The City's predicament was also known nation‑wide. An editorial in an issue of "Fire & Water Engineering" magazine at that time advised potential applicants to "give Seattle a wide berth" because of the political climate. There were no "takers."A suitable candidate was finally appointed on June 9, 19 11, in the person of Frank L. Stetson. He had retired as Chief of the Minneapolis Fire Department and moved to Nome, Alaska, on the heels of the gold rush. There he had organized and developed the Nome Volunteer Fire Department, which continued to flourish after his departure.

The summer of 1911 was active politically as members of the business community now opened up on Fire Mar­shal Kellogg. The City Council's Finance Committee, at their meeting on the night of August 3, discussed ways they might cut the position from the budget and thus elim­inate Kellogg. Adverse publicity halted the move and the Fire Marshal position was retained. Gardner Kellogg, however, now over 70 years of age, decided to retire effec­tive January 1, 1912. His appointed replacement was his old friend and also ex‑Seattle Fire Chief, Harry Bringhur­st.

Chief Stetson, in evaluating the Department, found it antiquated in some respects. His measures to bring it up to date included: acquisition of new, lighter motorized apparatus for hill areas, new stations in areas deficient in protection, replacement or remodeling of several old stations, a permanent fireboat station for the second fireboat at the foot of Massachusetts Street, gradual replacement of all horse‑drawn apparatus, a motor repair shop with a fleet of reserve motor apparatus, and (one measure which never materialized) creation of a salt water main looping through 1st and 3rd Avenues in the Central Business District which could be pumped into by both fireboats as well as a high pressure pumping station on the waterfront.

One of Chief Stetson's innovations that came with him from Minneapolis was a long, curved pipe with a nozzle fitted at the end to be operated into basements. Handles were affixed so that several members worked the nozzle simultaneously. This device is known by veteran fire fighters as the "Iron Swede." By September 1911, three of these bent cellar pipes were constructed and placed on downtown truck companies. Chief Stetson's goal was to have one on every truck company and both fireboats as fast as the shop could make them.

One of the new Chief's first tasks was to standardize equipment. At the time of his appointment several companies carried odd‑size hose or hose with odd‑sized or odd‑threaded couplings. Every engine and every hose company in the City had a basket of adapter couplings in order to work with other companies.

Tragedy was averted on the night of December 18, 1911, when a fire broke out in concealed spaces in the ceiling behind the metal kitchen duct of the Germania Cafe," on the ground floor of the "Lois Theater" building at 2nd and Seneca. A full house of seven hundred fifty patrons was watching a performance of Carmen when smoke began to fill the theater. Stage manager, Lloyd Ingram, and actress Myrtle Vane, appeared on stage telling the audience that there was a fire in a garbage can in the alley out back, but advising them that they had best leave the building for a while because of the smoke. They remained on the stage and the orchestra stayed on playing the "Toreador Song", as the smoke became thicker until the last of the patrons had safely departed. The first alarm was at 11:45 p.m., the 2‑11 at seven minutes past midnight. The building was a total loss. The lessee of the theater, Alexander Pantages, told reporters he didn't have enough insurance to cover even the piano. Instead, he packed up and moved to Los Angeles. A very eventful year ended on that note.

1912 proved to be exciting also with the approval of getting the measure for a two‑platoon work schedule on the fall election ballot. Hard electioneering by fire fighters, their wives, and their friends overcame the opposition of Chief Stetson, the City Administration, and the business community. The measure passed, and the two‑platoon system went into operation on April 2, 1913.

Success of the campaign to create a two‑platoon system was in large part due to the unification of the fire fighters into a solid group under the leadership of John A. Buck. Buck organized the original City Fire Fighters Union, then classed as a miscellaneous trades union under the A.F. of L. He gave ten dollars out of his own pocket for a charter. Opposition, at first, was strong and it was made known that any member who joined the Union was subject to dismissal. Many fire fighters at the time were ex-teamsters and stuck to their beliefs. Eventually the City Fire Fighters Union was admitted to the Seattle Central Labor Council.

Seattle had been experiencing another hot, dry summer when, about 3:40 p.m. on the 80‑degree afternoon of July 30, 1914, black smoke began to rise from the pier alongside the steamer Athlon. The "Athlon" was berthed on the south side of the Grand‑Trunk‑Pacific Dock, at that time the largest wooden pier on the Pacific Coast. The "Athlon's" engineer ran into the pier warehouse to spread the alarm. By the time he ran back to get his ship to safety, flames as well as smoke battered her side. The engineer of the Grand‑Trunk Dock ran to a door on the north side and called to fire fighters at the neighboring fireboat Station 5. Lieutenant Larson, with a driver and one hoseman, responded on the motor hose wagon while the rest of the crew got the Fireboat "Duwamish" under way. Station 5's still" alarm signal was received at Fire Alarm at 3:46 p.m.

Anticipating a small fire smoldering beneath the pier deck (an almost daily occurrence for members of Hose 5 during the hot July of 1914) the crew stretched a line into the pier from a hydrant right by the front door. No smoke at all was noticed inside the warehouse on their arrival, but a crew of employees was seen stretching a hose line from one of the pier's own hose stations. Within seconds, however, smoke rose through the wooden floor so thickly that 5's crew could not see well enough to attach the nozzle to their line without groping. Lieutenant Larson ran to the pier office at the street, Railroad Avenue (now Alaskan Way), end of the building to telephone for a full First alarm assignment. This request was recorded at 3:49 p.m. He was in the process of rejoining his crew when, in the words of a contemporary, "the air turned to fire" with no sound at all. Since officials and employees of "Grand‑Trunk" have testified that there were no flammable liquids or chemicals stored in the pier at the time of the fire, the tremendous outburst of flame must be attributed to a flashover of the entire warehouse area. Lieutenant Larson escaped through doors on the north side of the pier, thence back to Railroad Avenue and south to the Colman Dock where he could rejoin the crew on the "Duwamlsh." The other two fire fighters, John Stokes and driver Patrick Cooper, were badly burned. Stokes managed to climb to a mezzanine where he was able to jump into the water. Cooper fell trying to climb and injured his back so that he could not get up. He managed to roll out a door and over the stringer piling into the water. Both were picked up and taken to the hospital where Cooper died three days later. Stokes survived but could never return to full fire duty. Making her way around to the south side of the Grand Trunk, the "Duwamish" was nearly rammed by the "Athlon" which was now steaming away to safety. The pier warehouse was fully involved. Fire doors separating the warehouse from the 3‑story office section at the street end of the pier had closed within five minutes of the flashover, but smoke was so thick that office workers and passengers in the waiting room could not make their way down the stairs and were awaiting rescue at every available window. This is the scene, which greeted the arriving first alarm fire units.

Radiant heat ignited the large Colman Dock 167 feet to the south and the Galbralth‑Bacon Dock past the fireboat station 140 feet to the north. The Galbraith‑Bacon was a fully sprinklered pier and suffered only scorched paint and broken windows. The entire roof of the Colman Dock, however, was burned off with subsequent heavy water damage to contents. The "Duwamish" was positioned between the Grand‑Trunk and Colman Docks playing water on both. The other fireboat "Snoqualmie" worked on the fire from north of the Grand‑Trunk Dock. Both boats received fire fighting assistance from Coast Guard vessels. In addition to boat streams, there were thirty‑three hand lines of 2‑1/2‑inch hose in operation, some from hydrants, some from drafting steam pumpers. In the fire's wake, four people were killed in addition to Fire Fighter Cooper. Twenty‑nine persons were injured, ten of them fire fighters including John Stokes. Loss to the Grand‑Trunk‑Pacific Dock was $346,000, to the Coleman Dock $12,000, to the Galbraith‑Bacon Dock and all other properties combined $ 6, 000. These included minor losses to Fireboat Station 5 between the Grand‑Trunk and Bacon Docks and the little West Seattle Ferry slip between the Grand‑Trunk and Colman Docks. Hose 5's motor wagon with all its hose and equipment fell through the pier decking. What's left of it still rests under 75 years of silt, mud, and new pier pilings beneath the present Washington State Ferry System Seattle Terminal. It was written off and no attempt made to raise it.

Too late to take part In the great Grand‑Trunk fire, Seattle's first two motorized pumping engines were delivered in September of the same year. They were small by today's standards with 72.6 horsepower gasoline engines and 900 GPM rotary‑gear pumps. They were built entirely by the American La France Co. of Elmira, N.Y. That same month they were placed in service at Engine Cos. 1 and 12. In November 1914, two more motor pumping engines of the same capacity were delivered from the Gorham Co. of Oakland, California. They were GorhamSeagraves, with the chassis and body built by Seagrave and the motor and turbine pump by Gorham. One was placed in service late that year at Engine 8. The other went in service at Engine 7 sometime the following year.

Among the fires occurring in 1915 was an arson fire at the Ainsworth and Dunn Pier on Railroad Avenue near Broad Street on October 28. The pier was packed with cargo. Just delivered from the Orient, including five thousand bales of hemp fibre. There had been two attempts to burn the pier in the early morning of October 26, both of which burned out with no loss. The fire on the evening of the 28th took hold of the 2nd floor contents with a vengeance, eventually destroying the roof. The night watchman and a longshore timekeeper attempted to fight the fire after turning in the alarm. The pier's foreman, who was walking up Broad Street to get some dinner, observed the fire and ran back down the hill to the pier office where he rescued most of the records. The first alarm was recorded at 6:45 p.m. with a 2‑11 at 6:48 p.m. Destroyed besides the hemp were 17,000 chests of tea, 11,000 sacks of brewers' rice, 4,000 crates of block tin, 4,000 cases of crude rubber, 90,000 cases of canned salmon, 750 tons of newsprint paper, 100 tons of arsenic in barrels, some rattan, bamboo, pepper, and assorted Oriental goods. Many of the hemp bales smoldered for days. What was not burned was soaked and considered not salvageable. The pier was leased to the British "Blue Funnel Lines" which used it for supplying both the Japanese and Russian military organizations with munitions during the course of the War in which the United States was still neutral.

Back to the hemp. It was purchased at a salvage price by Ray Winkleman, owner of the "Winkleman Bag & Burlap Company" of Portland, Oregon. He planned to dry the wet hemp and salvage it for his operation. His first attempt in a building in the Ballard district proved unsuccessful. He was able to rent all five floors and the basement at 107‑09 Jackson Street, in the east-end of the "Talbot‑Walker Building." The hemp was strung from wires on all floors and in the stairwell. Cast iron stoves were placed on all floors and fired up to speed the hemp's drying process. Dry hemp was moved by dumb‑waiter to the basement for baling and shipment. Mr. Winkleman was in the building with his timekeeper and four immigrant Russian refugees, who were employed to help in the drying process, on the morning of January 26, 1916, when fire broke out. Apparently a backfire occurred in one of the unattended stoves on the 2nd floor. Fire flashed through the hanging hemp all the way to the top floor cutting off the stairs. The first alarm to the Fire Department came at 8:13 a.m. with a 2‑11 alarm three minutes later. Three of the Russians seen at 5th floor windows could not understand the fire fighters' instructions in English to stay put until ladders could be raised. Two jumped to their deaths while the third fell to the ground and died before help arrived. Mr. Winkleman, his timekeeper, and the other immigrant employee were found burned to death in the building after the fire was extinguished. This was the end of the "jinxed" hemp shipment.

Same month, different year. Tragedy again struck the Seattle Fire Department in the early morning hours ofSaturday, January 20, 1917, less than year since the "Winkleman Bag" fire. At 6:13 a.m. a full first alarm response was dispatched to a report of a fire in the "Grand Theater," a vaudeville and movie house at 217 Cherry Street. The fire, caused by defective wiring, had started under the floor of a 3rd story balcony. Fire had heavily involved the upper sections of the building and had gained headway in concealed spaces before fire fighters arrived. Hose crews attacked the fire from inside, working up to the 3rd floor balcony and from the roof into an unused 4th floor gallery. Chief Fred Gilham of Battalion 2 was in command of operations at the upper level. Just before 7:00 a.m. the fire in the concealed spaces caused the large domed ceiling to collapse, taking with it the gallery and balcony along with seven fire fighters. Chief Gilham, attempting to reach his men, became lost in the smoke and fell to the theater floor. Two fire fighters on the roof had to jump into windows of the Rector Hotel (now the St. Charles Hotel) at 618 ‑ 3rd Avenue. The cries of the trapped fire Fighters were answered by their speedy rescue by other fire Fighters on the ground. The 2‑11 was struck at 7:00 a.m., but Chief Gilham, unconscious and unable to call for help, was not rescued for almost half an hour. He died in the ambulance taking him to City Hospital. His funeral was one of the largest in the Northwest to that date. Chiefs, officials, and fire fighters from eight cities in two states attended. On January 23, after his body Jay in state at Headquarters Station 10, a funeral cortege proceeded up 2nd Avenue to Station 2, his assigned station, where Battalion 2's draped chief's buggy led the procession to the First Presbyterian Church at 7th and Spring.

The "Grand Theater" tragedy occurred despite the fact that the City had taken a major step toward averting such incidents the year before. On April 22, 1916, the Division of Fire Prevention and Inspection of the Seattle Fire Department came into being with six Inspectors under the direction of Fire Marshal Bringhurst. Under the arrangement, the Fire Marshal had the rank of Battalion Chief in the Fire Department.

The International Association of Fire Fighters, as a Union nationwide and in Canada, became a reality on February 23, 1918. The City Fire Fighters' Union in Seattle became Local 2 7 of the International on the same date, one of the charter locals.

Despite the efforts of the Fire Marshal's Office personnel, another tragedy occurred in the early morning hours of April 7, 1920. The "Lincoln Hotel" on the northwest corner of 4th Avenue and Madison Street were described by Chief Stetson as "little else than a seven‑story lumber yard with four brick walls around it." Because of the grade of the hill, the rear of the hotel facing an alley on the west side was nine stories high. A fire of unknown cause started in the laundry room, which was on the alley level. This was the sub‑basement in relation to the main 4th Avenue level with its hotel lobby and several associated businesses including a cigar stand, a restaurant, a pharmacy, a beauty shop, and a dress shop. The fire crept slowly to the upper levels through concealed spaces. The laundry, engineering rooms, and hotel kitchen I n the basement areas suffered only moderate damage because of a partial sprinkler system which activated. Ringing of an outside watermotor gong was the only indication that the system was operating, but it was just considered a nuisance at the time and no attention was paid to it. Fire was out of control inside the walls and concealed areas when the elevator operator noticed smoke after delivering two guests to their floor shortly after half past midnight. He notified the night clerk, AA Wright, who called the Fire Department and then began ringing rooms to warn the guests. He stayed at the switchboard until driven away by the smoke, escaping with the contents of the hotel safe. The elevator operator helped evacuate occupants until the elevator went dead. He had to abandon it on the 4th floor and make his own escape. Fire had taken control of the stairways, the elevator shaft, and an airshaft between the wings of the building trapping many above ground. Thrilling rescues and dramatic events highlighted the night. Fire Fighter Carl Dooley of Truck I climbed by pompier ladder to a top floor room. Fastening his life belt around a woman occupant, he lowered her by rope to other fire fighters on the 5th floor that led her to safety on a ladder raised from 4th Avenue. Lieutenant Joseph Spranger and Fire Fighter Charles McLean, both of Truck 1, similarly climbed by pompier ladder to a 6th floor room and lowered the unconscious occupant to the ground tied to a life line. Many other occupants were rescued on ground and aerial ladders. Two 6th floor guests were not so fortunate. Confectionery businessman, Fred Hamilton, from Berkeley, California, occupied a 6th floor suite on the west side of the building, above the alley and overlooking the harbor. He was in Seattle on a business visit with his seventeen‑year‑old daughter, Grace. Smoke had driven the pair to their windows. They had managed to crawl out onto the sills, but were overcome in the smoke. Both fell to their deaths in the alley before help could reach them. Another 6th floor guest was found dead in the remains of her room after the fire was out. To add to the tragedy, the weakened west wall gave way about forty‑five minutes into the operation. It collapsed into the alley and onto the roof of the two‑story mercantile building across the alley. Five fire fighters were injured by the falling debris, including Fire Fighter C.F. "Frenchy" LaCasse of Truck 4, who died of his injuries in a hospital a few hours later. Collapse of the west wall changed the fire fighting strategy. Crews were removed to safe, defensive positions using large caliber streams until the fire was knocked down. The wisdom of this decision was apparent fifteen minutes later when the south wall collapsed into Madison Street. Four lives had been lost. Also included in the toll were sixteen injured hotel guests, several of who jumped from windows. Nine fire fighters were injured. The 1st alarm was logged at 12:40 a.m., followed by a 2‑11 at 12:50 a.m., and a 3‑11 at 1: 11 a.m.