Mansfield Fire Department marks 125 years

By Amanda Rogers

Mansfield Record

For 125 years, the Mansfield Fire Department has been coming to the rescue of residents in need.

For half the span of U.S. history, local firefighters have been answering the call for house fires, lightning strikes, floods, auto accidents, burns, women in labor, heart attacks and falls, evolving from an all-volunteer brigade to a professional top-rated department of trained paramedic/firefighters.

The department was born after one of the most disastrous days in downtown Mansfield history in 1901.

“The population was around 700 at that time,” said Fire Chief Mike Ross. “The fire broke out in the early morning hours of July 5, they think it was fireworks. They sent people door to door to get a bucket brigade. They dragged furniture out of buildings that weren’t on fire.

“At the time, they didn’t have anything,” Ross said. “The closest fire department was in Fort Worth. When the buildings were on fire, they contacted Fort Worth. They were going to send a truck on the railroad. By that time, they got the fire under control.”

The fire destroyed six buildings and damaged eight others, totaling $177,000 in damage.

Mansfield’s volunteer fire department formed the same month. By 1903, the first fire station had been built on the back lot of a local lumberyard to house a hose cart, hand reel and hose. Residents could earn a dollar if their horses pulled the cart to a fire.

By 1947, interest in the volunteer brigade had dwindled, but was re-ignited by another downtown fire that destroyed Gibson’s Grocery and several other buildings on the west side of Main Street, prompting the re-organization of the fire department.

The community raised funds to build a new fire station on East Broad Street in the 1950s, and a brand-new $15,000 station at 210 Smith St. in 1964, constructed with volunteer labor.

The darkest day in the history of the Mansfield Fire Department came on July 31, 1968, when volunteers rushed to assist with a gasoline fire at the Red Ball Gas House in Kennedale. A tank exploded in a fireball, engulfing firefighters and equipment in flames.

Fire Chief Harry Blissard was killed at the scene, while firefighter Shirley “Clyde” Copeland was fatally injured. Several other firefighters were also seriously injured in the explosion. The two men remain the only firefighters killed in the line of duty for the Mansfield Fire Department and are remembered on a monument in front of City Hall, which will be moved to Fire Station No. 1 when City Hall moves to its new location.

“The first paid firefighter was hired in 1977,” Ross said. “He worked from 8 a.m.-5 p.m. weekdays and his job was to make sure the trucks were ready for the volunteers.”

As Mansfield grew, so did the paid staff, but still operated as a paid and volunteer department until the late 1990s.

“When I came here in 1999, we still had volunteers coming to train with us and they would go with us on calls,” Ross said.

The fire auxiliary was a longtime tradition that assisted the firefighters, Ross said.

“They had an auxiliary that would show up on incident scenes and bring coffee, food and dry socks,” he said. “They were a huge part of the department.”

The auxiliary evolved into the current Citizens Fire Academy Alumni, which performs many of the same roles, said Assistant Chief Noel Saldivar.

“We only allow about six that we will take to an incident scene to support, filling air tanks and providing water,” Ross said.

The fire department has evolved, too, now boasting 115 employees and five stations. All firefighters are licensed paramedics and certified firefighters. The department just held its first 16-week fire academy in conjunction with Grand Prairie and wound up with seven new firefighters.

“Our base request is that they be a paramedic,” Ross said. “We train them to be a firefighter.”

In 2023, the department achieved an ISO (Insurance Services Office) Rating of 1, the highest level, which ranks a fire department’s ability to protect against fires.

The addition of Methodist Mansfield Medical Center and then Texas Health Hospital were game changers, the fire officials said.

“The hospitals were a huge deal,” Ross said. “We had a 1 1/2 –hour turnaround (to take people to hospitals in Arlington). Now that Methodist Mansfield is a Level 2, we don’t have to go to Fort Worth anymore.

“In the ‘70s, firefighters fought fires,” he said. “As the community has changed, we have added EMTs, forcing us to develop those skill sets.”

And the fire department will continue to grow with Mansfield, which now has approximately 92,000 residents, Ross said.

The department responds to about 8,500 calls per year, which is trending to 9,500 this year, Saldivar said, “a direct correlation to the population increase.”

Fire officials are eyeing a sixth station in the city’s southwest quadrant, which is critical to keep response times down, Ross said.

And within the next two months, ambulances will begin carrying whole blood thanks to a contract with Methodist Mansfield, Saldivar said.

In the past 125 years, the Mansfield Fire Department has grown from an all-volunteer bucket brigade to a professionally trained staff that will have the first unit on scene within 4 minutes for 90 percent of calls.

“If you’re a citizen in this community you have expectations of what will happen if you call 911,” Saldivar said.

The department has a plan for the city’s expected growth, Ross said.

“We have a five-year plan to increase stations, personnel, increase response and apparatus,” he said. “We have to adjust the way we respond.”