The information below was composed by Chief Craig Haigh with McGrath Consultants.

In early 1898, after a series of fires ravaged the community,

a group of concerned residents came together to form the Skagway Volunteer Fire Department.  Two companies were initially formed, Hose Company No. 1 and Hose Company No. 2.  Both operated within the governance of a single department yet responded from separate fire halls and held separate fund-raising events to support their individual operations. 

 Hose Company No. 1 operated from a single stall building with a hose tower capped with a large fire bell. 

Hose Company No. 2, and the soon to be established Hook and Ladder Company No. 1 constructed a three-story fire hall.  This  new fire hall included the apparatus bay, offices, and a meeting room on the first floor, a dance hall on the second, and sleeping quarters on the third.

Thanks to the efforts of a privately owned power and water company that had constructed a dam creating Lower Dewey Reservoir, the town was now supplied with water using wood-stave water mains complete with hydrants. 

When the City of Skagway incorporated in June of 1900, one of the requirements was that the city have an established fire department.  During the first meeting of the new municipality, an ordinance was passed creating the Skagway Volunteer Fire Department and appointing Frank Lowe as the city’s first fire chief.