History

The most spectacular fire in Brighton's history occurred at 2 A.M. January 18th, 1905. The fire department was organized at this time and led by their fire chief, Thomas A. Jones. Mr. Jones was the son of a gold prospector that struck it rich and bought several hundred acres of land in the Brighton area. The fire departments consisted of volunteers and were more advanced than in the days of the bucket brigade. The fire department was aroused through a church bell and fire arm shots in the air. Unfortunately for the residents of the Dodge and Clark Stammering School, the notification was slow. The school housed forty students as well as teachers and helpers. Reports came in of students jumping from the school. At that time, Due to the horrific results of this fire, Brighton decided that it needed a fire alarm system. In May of 1905, masonry William McCrellis laid the corner stone of the new fire bell. Nellie Flanagan who was voted the most popular woman was elected to name the bell. She chose Betsey Ann. On August 18th, 1905, Miss Flanagan christened the bell and the Betsey Ann Bell legend was born.

Funding for the Bell was secured by popular subscription, but the 50' tower was paid for by the popularity vote that Miss Flanagan won. The votes cost 5 cents each. She was then hoisted to the top of the tower and christened the bell with champagne that was brought in from St. Louis. Due to the fact that hundreds of people showed up for the dedication, it was decided that the following year on September 14th, 1906, that a picnic would occur to celebrate the bell's birthday. In 1912, the event continued to grow and was changed to a two day format.

During this time, the fire department utilized a manual pumper. The handles were on the sides instead of on the ends and were worked by three men, with one on each handle. There were four short wheels about 42 in diameter. On top was a large air chamber where the water pressure built up. The next equipment was a machine that could carry two lines of hose and it had a tongue at the front end that could be pulled by 6-8 men. It was also equipped with a reel and rope for emergency pulling in the mud. It had a one cylinder engine at the back and the pump was at the front. This arrangement permitted more wheel flexibility. With this setup, the engine could be started once the firefighters arrived at the scene of the fire.

This engine provided difficulty as many times it would not start and cause the fire department to be late on calls. This pumper would serve the purpose for many years and it wasn't until 1951 that Brighton had purchased a replacement. In 1951, the town bought The White Pumper from Edwardsville Fire Department for the sum of $305. It had a pumping capacity of 500 gallons per minute. The next acquisitions were two chemical tanks with 60 gallon capacity each which were purchased by the Betsey Ann fire association.

In 1948, the Betsey Ann Association bought a fire truck and a water tank and a truck for the tank in 1957 which had a 1250 gallon capacity. The Brighton FD and the Betsey Ann Fire department were deemed necessary so as the city and the rural areas would all have service. In 1957, Brighton purchased a new Chevrolet fire truck at the cost of nearly $6500.Brighton's first permanent Fire Department was organized on May 12th, 1930 with 27 volunteer fire fighters. William Robings was elected president. In the early 1960's, the fire department was broken down into three areas, business, residential and rural. The siren sounded once for a business fire, twice for a residential and three times for a rural call.

Engine 208 (Photo by Bill Friedrich)

Engine 202 (Photo by Bill Friedrich)

Tender 203 (Photo by Bill Friedrich)

Tender 207 (Photo by Bill Friedrich)

Rescue 201 (Photo by Bill Friedrich)

Years served as chief

Harold Chase 1930-1958

Cletus Rathgeb 1958-1962

Elmer Bott 1962-1964

Cal Vonnahmen 1964-1994

Brad Targhetta 1994-2000

Jason Bowman 2000-Present

Fire Board

President Eric Benefield

Vice President Bill Huebener

Treasurer Brad Bott

Board Member Tim Baker

Board Member Mike Price