Oceanside Fire Department

By Stu Sprung, Mark W. Finstuen and Oceanside Fire Department

For more than 120 years, the firefighters of the Oceanside Fire Department have had the privilege of serving one of Southern California’s most active and popular coastal communities. Its firefighters are well known regionally as being highly skilled, capable, and aggressive when it comes to firefighting. This legacy has been handed down from Oceanside’s first firefighters as they lived in the Wild West of the late 1800s, fighting blazes similar to those of today but with dungarees, cowboy boots, and nothing to guide them but instinct and bravery. Today a force of more than 100 modern, paramedic-trained firefighters protect over 180,000 Oceanside residents and visitors 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Arcadia Publishing
• Release date: Sep 18, 2012
• ISBN: 9781439640319

Stu Sprung

Author and Oceanside Fire Department captain Mark W. Finstuen, a 22-year fire service veteran, has spent hundreds of hours scouring archives, obtaining photographs, and chasing down stories. He is a past president of the Oceanside Firefighters� Association and is the primary historian of the Oceanside Fire Department. Coauthor and UCSD graduate Stu Sprung is a former San Francisco firefighter who spent much of the early part of his 17-year fire service career in Oceanside. He is a training consultant, a feature writer for a leading fire service publication, and an executive board member for the San Diego Firehouse Museum.

Book preview

noted.

INTRODUCTION

Oceanside is exceptionally well equipped for fire protection, has well-trained firefighters, and has every reason to be proud of its fire department, according to Walter Johnson, Oceanside fire chief, May 3, 1933.

The history of Oceanside dates back to 1769, when it was first visited by European explorers. At the time, the territory was still under Spanish and Mexican rule. In 1798, Spanish missionaries settled and created the Mission San Luis Rey, the most expansive of what would become known as the Spanish Mission Church Complex. This network of 21 missions would stretch from San Diego to San Francisco and would be connected by a trail that would become famously known as the El Camino Real.

After California was annexed by the United States in 1848, it would take another 40 years for settlers to incorporate the city of Oceanside. Part of that incorporation included the establishment of an official fire company (in 1887, an informal volunteer Oceanside fire company was created), which essentially incorporated a hose cart, some fire hydrants, a fire bell tower, and some volunteers.

It was during this time that Oceanside experienced a rare stretch of time with no significant fires, which in turn resulted in the community’s lack of emphasis on fire services. That was until June 13, 1896, when passengers on a southbound train noticed flames blowing out of the roof of the majestic Pacific Hotel, a popular oceanfront resort that had only been built eight years earlier. Due to the lack of adequate fire protection, it burned to the ground and, according to the June 14, 1896, Oceanside Blade-Tribune, was destroyed as it was built, in a blaze of glory.

At the very next town hall meeting, a serious commitment to fire protection was made. A fire board was appointed and more hose carts were added, marking the first modernization of the Oceanside Fire Department. These carts were subsequently spread around the city in various stables, garages, and motels. Then in the mid-1920s, Oceanside’s first motorized apparatus was purchased, a 1923 American LaFrance fire engine with a 40-horsepower engine and a 400-GPM pump. It cost $8,500 and was stored at the Oceanside Garage on Hill Street, which was the only building in town able to house such a thing and was the private business of fire chief Ernest White.

In 1929, the first fire/police station was built, with much effort coming from Oceanside’s most legendary fire chief, Walter Johnson. Eighteen volunteers served Oceanside’s 4,200 citizens. That structure is still the present-day location of Oceanside Fire Station No. 1, which just happens to be situated on the former homestead of Andrew Jackson Myers, the founder of Oceanside.

In 1942, the U.S. government established Camp Pendleton for the U.S. Marine Corps, which became home to the legendary 1st Marine Division. (Since then, many of Oceanside’s firefighters and family members served there and have served in every major conflict since its inception, including World War II, Korea, Vietnam, and the Gulf War.) Being the nation’s busiest military base, Camp Pendleton caused Oceanside’s population to swell, which until recently had made the Oceanside Fire Department the second largest and busiest fire department in San Diego County (next to the city of San Diego).

A growing population led to larger fires, one of which was the deadly Saint Malo Lumber Yard on March 11, 1961. Due to the intense, 100-foot flames, a downed power line temporarily disabled fire chief J. Billings. While he was able to free himself, Capt. Lloyd Seal became ensnarled and incapacitated. A local bystander attempted to free him and became electrocuted in the process and died. Captain Seal survived but suffered the loss of both legs.

While a department disaster was averted during that event, it would be 45 years, almost to the month, until Oceanside Fire Department would experience its first line-of-duty death. Fire captain Kurt Krebbs, following a difficult and prolonged house fire, would collapse and die from exposure to the fire.

A unique feature of the Oceanside Fire Department is that in 1975 it became the first fire department to train firefighters to provide paramedic service in San Diego County. Since then, OFD has gone on to lead the county with many innovative ways to deliver paramedic services.

Along with the mission and Camp Pendleton, Oceanside has been blessed with some of the best coastline in California, making it a popular tourist and surf destination. The Oceanside Pier, first built in 1888 and a stone’s throw from the beach house used in the movie Top Gun, has been a landmark that is so popular it has been rebuilt six times. The fire department has trained and responded many times to the