Logan-Trivoli Fire Protection District

The History of the Logan-Trivoli Fire Protection District


The first way of fighting fires in Hanna City was a bucket brigade with every able-bodied person joining in to help extinguish the flames. On May 26, 1911, village trustees purchased a “combination chemical and water fire engine” and from the same company, 300’ of 2” linen hose. James Clemmer kept the fire engine at his place until Oct. 2, 1911. They then stored it in Favorite’s barn. In November 1911, they added a shed on the south end of the Village Hall to house the wagon. Chemical soda was used to charge the fire engine. It was pulled by manpower and when the general alarm sounded, everyone went to help with one or two getting the fire wagon to the scene. In 1918 the village purchased three dozen fire buckets and four extension ladders and a hook ladder. These buckets had a round bottom so they would roll off roofs because most of the fires then were roof fires. Sometime later the village paid $2.00 to the person who took the truck to a fire and returned it. By August 1926 there was a meeting to organize a Volunteer Fire Co. in Hanna City. The first volunteers were: Clarence Bradshaw, Orrie Whites, Earl Fryman, Win. Snodgrass, Fred Swadinsky, Earl Isbell, George Rindfleisch, Henry Workman, Albert Passinore, John Johnson, Walter Donaldson, Warren Stewart, Everett Sheckler, Glen Stear, Eddie DeTrempe, Russell Picton, Glen Carpenter, Claude Kendall, Allen Rice, William Snell and Ben Behrends. They went to see Dick Largent in regard to renting room in his garage for the fire truck. These early volunteers solicited to buy a chassis on which to mount the hand-pulled pumper. When they purchased it, they were proud of their fire department since the pumper was motorized and was able to travel at least 25 m.p.h. The area for the fire department to cover was about a five-mile radius including Trivoli.

In September 1927,a space on the west side of what is now Gil’s Supper Club was ready to house the fire engine.

The first minutes of the Hanna City Volunteer Fire Department were taken on Oct. 14, 1927. In 1930 the village asked Mrs. Irma Schuster, who was already employed as telephone switchboard operator, to take fire calls in her home. In early days she gave eight rings on the telephone for a general alarm. She would open all the keys on the switchboard and everybody in town would know about the fire.
In March 1935 the village, still the governing body of the department purchased a 1935 Ford fire truck for $2,580. This pumper was financed by the result of much legwork by Earl Isbell and others on the board going throughout the community asking for donations. The truck was equipped with two 45-gallon chemical tanks. In each of these tanks a powder was put in the water and in the cap of the tanks was placed a glass bottle, which contained an acid. When mixed with the powder and water, it caused a chemical reaction creating a pressure of 45 lbs. making a good fire extinguisher. To activate the chemical mixture a lever was pulled to break the bottle containing the acid.
The meetings stopped again until 1940 when Mayor Arthur Evans called one to reorganize the Volunteer Fire Dept. Roy Wilson was elected Fire Chief, Robert Quick was Assistant Chief, John Stevens was Chairman of the Firemen and Russell Workman was Treasurer.

In January 1947 the department was transferred to the Hanna City Fire Department, Inc. The firemen would maintain the equipment from then on.

In 1948, the ground was purchased in Hanna City to build a new fire station where the present one is now, and a building was erected big enough to house two trucks. The money for this was raised through homecoming celebrations, public subscription, and other projects backed by the firemen.

By 1951, a fire district, the Logan-Trivoli Fire Protection District was formed with George Doubet as the Fire Chief. The district included all of Logan Township, the east half of Trivoli Township and the south two tiers of Rosefield Township. Eventually additional areas would be added that included what is now Lake Camelot, and portions of north Trivoli and Quarry Road.

On April 3, 1956, with the help of Fire Chief George Doubet and Peoria County Civil Defense Director John Van Gordon, volunteers in the Trivoli area organized and began discussing creating a fire station in Trivoli. In January, 1957, a lot on the northwest side of the railroad tracks on Trivoli Avenue was donated by the Trivoli Farmer’s Co-op. The fire station was built that year and an addition was added to the back of the building in 1959. The original officers of the Trivoli Volunteer Firemen, Inc were President Gordon Brown, Vice-President Cliff Johns, Secretary Steve Camp, Treasurer Eli Fidler, and Sgt of Arms Earl Harper. The original apparatus for the new fire station was a 1957 Chevrolet Tanker and a 1948 Dodge Pumper. The first emergency piece of emergency medical equipment was purchased in 1959. Original members when the Trivoli Fire Station was organized were: Lawrence Andrews, Richard Andrews, Marion Bird, Gordon Brown, Lloyd Despines, Paul Downing, Eli Fidler, Ted Harding, Gerald Huffman, Jim Hurst, Clifford Johns, C Miller, E Arv, Oral Parr, Clyde Phillips, Elmer Phillips, Harold Quin, Leslie Stein, Dale Stookey, Bernard Watkins. Assistant Chiefs at the Trivoli Station during early time were: Gerald Huffman 1956-1958, Lawrence Andrews 1958-1961, Wayne Doubet 1961-1965, Don Harper 1965-1967, Donald Woodcock became Assistant Chief in 1967 and eventually became District Fire Chief in the1970’s.

In 1967, the district purchased the house next to the Hanna City fire station and construction began in October of that year on the present four-stall firehouse, located at 212 N Main Street. The station was completed in early 1968 and firemen moved into the modern new building in February, after being housed temporarily at the old International Harvester building, near the railroad tracks.

The Hanna City Firemen’s Auxiliary was formed January 14, 1974, to benefit those families whose homes were destroyed by fire, and people in the area with other needs. First officers were Pres., Phyllis Culver; Vice Pres., Doris Penn; Sec., Judy Clarke; Treas., Velma Stear. While the auxiliary is no longer active they provided a valuable role to the Fire Department.

In 1975, the Fire District installed a Plectron Alerting System. This system was purchased by citizen donations, donations from the Hanna City Firemen’s Corporation, Trivoli Volunteer Firemen’s Corporation, citizen donations, and by a grant from the Illinois Department of Conservation. This new system enabled Mrs. Schuster to trigger an alarm system in each volunteer firefighter’s home. She handled the fire phone so long that she knew many of the firemen when they were little boys. She called them “her boys” until her death in 1980. For some of those years of service Mrs. Schuster’s daughter, Mildred, helped her. She was honored along with her mother in November of 1978, when Irma retired as fire operator.

In 1978 the Fire District contracted with the Telephone Answering Service of Peoria to answer the fire phone system and alert the firefighters on the Plectron System. On June 15, 1993, the emergency number 9-1-1 was introduced to Hanna City and all of Peoria County. The Fire Number of 565-4221 became the fax line at the Hanna City Fire Station and 9-1-1 was now the number to use for all emergencies. The Fire District contracts with the City of Peoria Emergency Communications Center to answer its 9-1-1 calls and alert the firefighters. While some of the original Plectron Alerting Receivers are still in operation, the system now relays mostly on Pagers, which allow mobility for the firefighters. Hanna City and Trivoli have fire sirens that also sound when there is an emergency. The fire sirens in Hanna City and Trivoli do not sound between 10pm and 6am. There is not a fire siren in Lake Camelot. There are also yellow flashing lights on Farmington road near the entrances to the fire stations in Hanna City and Trivoli that flash for 8 minutes when there is a fire/rescue call.

At the present time the fire district is under the direction of a Board of Trustees. The trustees are appointed by the Peoria County Board Chairperson. Trustees in previous years have been Robert Howater, William “Bill” Stear (who also served as Fire Chief), Ted Harding, Greg Short, Phil Gould, David Alwood, Russell Deal, Deef Stone, and Bill Cackley.

Frank Stear became Fire Chief on May 22, 1976, when Chief Don Woodcock retired. Frank continued as Chief until December 20, 1987. On December 20, 1987, David Clarke became Fire Chief. He continued in his role as Fire Chief until June 30, 1998.

In 1990, the Fire District built a fire station in the Lake Camelot Subdivision to serve the growing population in that area for the fire district. The Fire District now has three fire stations; one at Hanna City, one at Trivoli, and one at Lake Camelot.

On December 23, 1997, the fire department suffered its first line of duty death when Brian T Hauk, an Assistant Fire Chief assigned to the Hanna City Station was killed in a vehicle crash while responding to the Hanna City Fire Station for a reported stove fire. Brian was a very dedicated member of the fire department and is greatly missed. A memorial flag is flown along Farmington Road on the west side of Hanna City that marks the location of the vehicle crash. Brian is buried in Elmwood. There is a memorial message on engine/rescue 431 in Brian’s memory. The Fire Department honored Brian with a memorial service on December 23, 2007. On July 1, 2014 a section of Illinois Route 116 (Farmington Road) from Cramer Road to just west of Taylor Road received an honorary designation, by the State of Illinois, as the “Assistant Fire Chief Brian T Hauk Memorial Highway”.