Old Memphis Fire Photos

Today, we are adding a new category to the web site. We will periodically post pictures here of old Memphis Fire Department activities, including fire scenes, fire apparatus, and people.

Photographed by Louis J. Tibbs, who was listed as staff photographer for the News Scimitar, a local newspaper in Memphis from 1907 to 1926. In 1926, the paper merged with the Memphis Press to become the Memphis Press-Scimitar. That newspaper remained in circulation until 1983. The fire was in a commercial building at 383 Vance Avenue, which housed the Monarch Theater Supply Company and the Film Booking Offices of America. The firemen appear to be moving in with salvage covers, and it is believed that the officer at the door is former Assistant Fire Chief Henry Brenner, who was later killed in the line of duty. This fire occurred in 1926, but the date is unknown.

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Photographer unknown. From the photo collection of the Fire Museum of Memphis. This was a large downtown fire in Memphis in 1939. The address was 98-100 South Front Street. Pictured in the photo on the far left is the Hale Water Tower with its first motorized tractor, believed to be a 1918 American LaFrance. Note the handlines supplying the deck guns in the crow's nest. In a later modernization, piping was added so the guns could be supplied at ground level. In the center and on the right are two Pirsch ladder trucks with 85ft wooden aerial ladders, likely Truck 1 and Truck 5. Both were delivered new from 1934-1936. The Water Tower has been fully restored and can be seen daily at the fire museum.

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