Spokane Fire Station No. 6: A Burning Issue

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Originally constructed in 1900, Station No. 6 was first located at 504 E. 8th. This station was built entirely by the firefighters themselves, and although they did not get extra pay, they did get Sundays off, making volunteers easy to come by. In 1959, a fire protection improvement bond paved the way for the station to be completely rebuilt. During its grand opening in October, the 1st Annual Fire Prevention Week was also celebrated.

Contrary to popular belief, early Spokane Falls settlers were not all white. The 1890 census shows almost 200 Black pioneers in the fledgling city. One of these men was Joe Hagen, who joined the Spokane Falls Fire Department the year before. Other prominent Black settlers included John B. Parker, a barber, and Pullman Porter and civic leader Emmett Hercules Holmes. Other individuals of black ancestry who contributed to the development of Spokane were involved in railroad construction, served as deputy county treasurers, appointed state positions, federal positions, Spokane Club employees, business owners, newspaper creators (The Spokane Citizen), school district officials, attorneys, architects, and established churches, all before 1900.

(An earlier version of this article listed D.K. Oliver, who was listed as "mulatto" in the 1880 census as the earliest Black pioneer in the city. However, Oliver identified as white and his descendants dispute the 1880 classification.)

By 1975, SFD still had yet to hire its first female firefighter. In mid-1975, the SFD rushed to meet federal standards for hiring women in order to obtain federal funding. Many opponents were the wives of the firefighters. The Firefighters' Wives Service Club actively sought to prevent females from being hired by the department. One argument was that women lacked the physical strength to haul bodies and knock down doors. One councilman referred to the idea as "ridiculous," and a councilwoman suggested women would increase disability claims from "the heavy work."

However, the main argument was the idea of the "moral decay" that would ensue if men lived with women in the stations. One wife commented that she would "move her bed down to the fire station" if need be. However, Chief Alfred L. O'Connor saw to it that the standards of the physical agility test were not compromised, and individuals would pass the tests based on their merit. Finally, in 1989, Sherryl Dodge, Tammy Tibbles, and Andrea Walters made fire department history by becoming the first female fighters in Spokane. They successfully passed the physical test and their probationary year.

The cottage-style Station No. 6 is now occupied by the Martin Luther King Memorial Center, a suitable occupant of the historic fire station.