Saratoga News Photograph by George Sakkestad (l-r, front) Saratoga Fire District Chief Ernie Kraule, Capt. Bill Morrison, (l-r, back row) Firefighter Philip Doherty, Firefighter/Paramedic Ken Barstow, Firefighter Chris Stuehler, Engineer Ron Vega and Engineer Parker Patri sit atop a 1924 Model T Ford truck, one of the district's first fire vehicles. Staying On Top The county's last independent fire district has spent three-quarters of a century keeping pace with the industry and its larger counterparts By Michelle Alaimo What started out as the Saratoga Hose Company 100 years ago is now the only self-governing fire district in the county. And this month it celebrates 75 years of organized service in Saratoga. Although the Saratoga Fire District's building does not show many signs of change over the years, the modifications within the district have kept it on top. "To look at the changes in the last 20 years is dramatic," Saratoga Fire District Chief Ernie Kraule says. Since the district formed in 1923, the changes run the gamut from newer and better equipment to more involved training and innovative lifesaving techniques. In the beginning, firefighters in Saratoga shared one helmet and fought over who was going to drive the department's single truck. Now, however, each firefighter has his own gear, and everyone knows exactly who will drive the engine on any given shift. Some of those old engines the staff once fought over are used in Saratoga parades, with firefighters sitting proudly atop now-outdated equipment. The district has come a long way from the 1924 Model T firetruck it once used; it currently has three engines and a multipurpose rescue truck. The rescue truck and the Jaws of Life have been put to use on some horrific car accidents during SFD history. More than two firefighters at the SFD have reached an accident and been faced with gory scenes. Capt. Bill Morrison recalled an incident in the early '70s in which a woman was riding in a car with her boyfriend. They got into an accident, and "pretty much the top of her head was cut off," Morrison says. And Engineer Brad Pike remembers vividly another accident that occurred in the early 1990s on Hwy. 9. The driver of a Dodge Stealth wrapped the vehicle around a tree, and two occupants of the car were killed. One of the victims was nearly decapitated. "It looked like a horror show," Pike says. Other times, the haunting memories come from the medical calls the district receives--and which make up some 80 percent of all calls. One of the most recent heart-wrenching moments for Pike was the death of a 14-month-old baby who suffered from bacterial meningitis and had stopped breathing. Despite Pike's efforts to revive the infant, the baby died in his arms. Even the most veteran firefighter admits it can sometimes be hard to handle. "We're still human, too," Pike says. "After a while, things just hit you weird." He added that these days firefighters can attend post-traumatic stress classes to help handle the memories, and they sometimes talk among themselves--the only therapy available to the city's original firefighters--to better handle the emotional experiences. Not only are there more methods available for firefighters to handle stress, the industry has also seen a change in what firefighters must do, Kraule says. Firefighters no longer rescue kittens out of trees and stand on guard in case of fire. And no longer can just anyone who wants to help join the district. Firefighters must go to college for an associate degree--and obtain a medical certificate. "They have to have a higher educational level then before," Trina Whitley, SFD business manager, says. The fire service has gone from fire suppression to lifesaving techniques, Kraule says. American Medical Response, a private ambulance company, houses an ambulance at the Saratoga department, and firefighters are also being trained as paramedics. Whitley says the Saratoga Fire District currently has five paramedics on staff, and two more are in training. A paramedic is placed on each one of the three engines when the SFD receives a call. Sometimes the paramedics make the difference between life and death for a victim because they are able to administer lifesaving drugs long before an ambulance arrives, Morrison says. With medical calls on the rise, fire calls are down compared to the past, officials say. Morrison says when he first started with the district in 1976, the department received a lot more calls for house and grass fires. Now, fire calls are sporadic, he says. However, Saratoga has had its share of large fires, including the Saratoga Heights fire in the early 1990s and the Bohlman Road fire in the mid-'90s. When a fire does become too large, other fire districts are called in, Morrison said. SFD officials say they can recall only one fire-related death in the entire 75-year history of the SFD. And that was in 1958 in a fire on Hill Avenue, Kraule says. Although the SFD no longer saves kitties from trees because they are out on medical calls, there have been times when firefighters have gone to great lengths to save an animal. According to SFD records, in the late 1950s, a teenager called for help when he found his parents and dog not breathing in the family home's master bedroom. Firefighters revived all three--yes, even the dog. Records also show that during World War II, the SFD tried to save a woman and her parakeet. According to the records, "An elderly woman was revived, but her parakeet did not respond to their efforts." And a few years ago, Morrison says, firefighters spent half a day trying to get a horse out of a pit into which it had inadvertently fallen. The method in which firefighters are informed of both medical and fire calls has changed dramatically over the years. "In the technological process, we went from 'see the smoke, hear the bell' to a paging system," Capt. Steve Sporleder says. Back when the district began, a bell at Fourth Street and Big Basin Way--formerly Lumber Street--would ring when a fire was spotted so that all the volunteer firefighters could hear it. Some of today's Saratoga fire department veterans recall running after the firetrucks as young boys, waiting for the day they'd be old enough to volunteer for the district. Although his introduction to firefighting was in Los Gatos, recently retired Saratoga Capt. Buz Strothers was one of those kids. "I started chasing fires when I was 9 years old," he says. "When the fire bell rang, everyone ran," Fire Commissioner Henry Clarke says. "Everyone would volunteer because they all wanted to help." Later, the district went to a system by which a phone would ring in the homes of four of the department's firefighters--and it would keep ringing until one of them answered. Clarke says the firefighters used to coordinate their schedules to ensure that one of them would always be home to get the call in the event of an emergency. The phone system was later replaced by a siren on top of the garage that housed the firetruck and hose cart. Clarke says the first fireman on the scene would answer the phone and write the location of the fire on a board. There was always a race to be first to the station because, according to district records, the first fireman to arrive got to drive the truck. The district continued to keep up with technological advances by switching to a plextron--a kind of a one-way portable radio. Later, firefighters carried beepers, and now the whole operation is computerized. Surely Ed Seagraves, the district's first fire chief, never imagined how firefighting would change. What began as a sort of social group of local men fighting fires in their community soon became a district. Although the district organized and was functioning in 1923, it was not recognized by the state until 1924. A board of commissioners was established shortly after, and the SFD's first fire chief was appointed. The process by which the fire district's boundaries were established would seem strange by today's standards but was then a sign of the times: Clarke says the firefighters went around town to all of the orchards and ranches and asked property owners if they'd pay the tax rate to fund the department. Those who wouldn't weren't included in the district. Kraule says those original uneven boundaries have changed little over the years, with the exception of some new property--about six square miles of hillside area--that was annexed to the district almost 10 years ago. Attempts have been made to annex the whole district to another. In the late 1970s, Santa Clara County's West Valley district tried unsuccessfully to consolidate SFD with its department. The issue is still a sore subject with firefighters; most decline to discuss the events that led up to the consolidation attempt and the district's successful defeat of the plan. "There have been several consolidation efforts that have been unsuccessful," Sporleder says. Instead, district officials would rather concentrate on the future of the department. The district is hoping to remodel the current building, an automotive garage that was purchased for $35,000 in 1951. But after 75 years that old garage is in need of some work, and the SFD--which has helped save both animal and human lives and protected Saratoga from fires for nearly 100 years--needs a new home. A new firehouse has been proposed but cannot be built without Saratoga voters' support. District officials say they hope to put a bond on the ballot before voters next year to fund a complete renovation and remodeling of the building on the corner of Saratoga Avenue and Los Gatos-Saratoga Road. According to a 1994 report by structural engineer Ed Meserve, the fire district's current building has weak walls, an improperly attached roof and needs many seismic upgrades. Even a minor earthquake could send the building's landmark bell tower crashing down. The district is looking forward to the future and the possibility of a new firehouse. Plus, Pike says, SFD recently applied for membership in the Firefighters International Union. But the firefighters of the Saratoga Fire District will take a moment to remember their department's history, Kraule says, by holding an open house during this year's Celebrate Saratoga '98 on Sept. 26 from 5:30 p.m. to 10:30 p.m. For more information about the SFD's open house, call the district at 867-9001. [ Back to Contents Page | Saratoga News Home Page | Archives ] This article appeared in the Saratoga News, September 23, 1998. ©1998 Metro Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved.