For 150 years Clear Lake has taken pride in providing residents with a skilled fire department. Today’s firefighters have completed many hours of training and are ready with state-of-the-art equipment in case of emergency. That’s a far cry from the hose cart and buckets businessmen-turned-firemen used when the department was new.
According to department records, the only firefighting equipment available when the town’s first significant fire broke out was buckets and long poles.
That was Jan. 4, 1871, when the Coates Bros. Furniture Store burned at a loss of $5,000 and a building near it belonging to McGrows, at a loss of $1,500. A bucket brigade was formed and long poles were used to shove the walls of the burning building in, only hoping to keep the fire from spreading.