1893‑1910

Captain Al Hunt of Engine I was selected the new Chief.

An able replacement, Captain Ralph Cook of Engine 1, was appointed and confirmed as Chief on July 20. Interim Chief Clark and Assistant Chief Marlow both turned the position down. The Commission gave Chief Cook a free hand in control of the Department, since their own past strife was now general public knowledge. The reputation of the Fire Commission and other commissions was such that responsible citizens started the process of writing a new City Charter, one which included a Civil Service system for all City employees and ended the commission system of operating City departments. The voters approved the new Charter in March 1896. The new Mayor, W.D. Wood, offered Gardner Kellogg his job back and he accepted. He was appointed as first Chief under the new Charter on June 19, 1896. Chief Cook became Assistant Chief.

The community now seemed more receptive to Chief Kellogg's fire prevention measures. The memory of the Great Fire was certainly still fresh. The City was recovering from the economic depression of 1893. The followingyear, 1897, started the gold rush to the Klondike and Alaska, which initiated a "boom" period in the City. The decade from 1898 to 1908 saw the largest growth in Seattle's size of any like period in history. Chief Kellogg guided the fire Department without incident until February 21, 190 1, when he retired to take a new job. The City had just created the position of Fire Marshal to handle inspection of buildings and enforcement of fire ordinances, Chief Kellogg's pet concerns. It was to take this position that he retired. Ralph Cook was once again appointed Chief.

Chief Cook supervised the opening of the new headquarters station at 3rd Avenue South and Main Street on August 15, 1903. This was the first station actually in the downtown commercial center of the City since the Great Fire. Incorporated in the new station was a seven‑story drill tower. Using this facility, Chief Cook initiated a drill school for all companies to standardize their operations and fire fighting methods. A 65‑foot Champion watertower was purchased in 1904, which also went into service at this station.

Harry W. Bringhurst was a professional fire engineer an educated man. He had served in the volunteer fire departments at Logansport, Indiana, his hometown, and Bismarck, North Dakota, where he was City Engineer. He arrived in Seattle at about the time of the Great Fire, and Chief Kellogg did not waste his expertise in organizing the new Fire Department. The two men remained good friends the rest of their lives. Both Chiefs Kellogg and Cook relied heavily on advice from Harry Bringhurst. Fire chiefs from up and down the Pacific Coast respected him enough to elect him as Secretary of the Pacific Coast Fire Chiefs' Association even though he was not at that time a chief or even a fire fighter in any department. Seattle Fire Chief Ralph Cook retired on December 29, 1906 because of poor health. Harry Bringhurst was appointed to the vacated position the same day. Chief Bringhurst was a strong proponent of fire prevention and worked hand‑in‑glove with Fire Marshal Kellogg for enforcement and enactment of new ordinances designed to make property more fire safe. Chief Bringhurst was also a strong proponent of motorization for the fire service. The first motorized vehicle used by the Seattle Fire Department was a 1907 Autocar runabout bought for the Chief.

The year 1907 was witness to a large growth in the land area as well as population for the City. That year Ballard, West Seattle, South Park, Columbia City, Hillman City, and Rainier Beach voted to be annexed into Seattle. All of these had volunteer fire departments of varying descriptions and, except for Ballard, all had to continue to use their volunteers for three more years before the Seattle Fire Department could finance a paid company. Before annexation into Seattle, Ballard had been the fourth largest city in the State of Washington. Its volunteer fire station became the home of Hose No. 18, a paid company of the Seattle Fire Department immediately upon annexation on June 1, 1907.

Chief Bringhurst began planning the Department's expansion into the annexed areas as well as providing protection for a world's fair, the Alaska‑Yukon‑Pacific (AY‑P) Exposition of 1909. A temporary fire station on the fair grounds, the present campus of the University of Washington, was the home of Engine No 23, Hose No. 24, and Truck No. 7 for the duration of the fair.