Pleasanton, CA Fire Department-Some Historical Information

By Alan E. Nielsen Sr.

I was raised in Pleasanton, CA in the 1940's & 1950's and my dad was a volunteer fireman in that city. I am putting together this document in order to preserve some of the historical pictures and memories that I have of that department. I worked most of my life in the professional fire service and I always like to tell people that I started my fire service in Pleasanton when I was just a few months old and my dad took me to the fire station in Pleasanton. It was not for me to look at the equipment, but he was babysitting me one night when my mom was at a meeting and the siren went off. He knew he had to stay home for that call but when the siren went off again and again, well he put me in his Model A Ford pickup in my bassinet and drove to the fire station. This was on September 22, 1941 and it was a bad train wreck out on the Pleasanton-Sunol Rd. He did go out on the call and left me at the fire station with some ladies that came in to see what was going on. I guess you could say that was my first call. 

This is the Pleasanton Fire House, located at the corner of Railroad Avenue & Division Street in Pleasanton, CA. Construction on it started in about 1929 after the original Fire House burned down. There was room for three pieces of apparatus and outside to the right of the station, there was a shed that another old engine could be stored along with some historical pieces of equipment. Also located in that shed was a large bell. Every night at 9 p.m. the City Police would ring the bell to tell all kids they should be home.

The little entrance door to the left was the main entrance and just inside was a small phone both and a desk with the radio base station. There was also a stairway that went up to the second level which was the meeting room, kitchen, bathroom and a small bedroom.

On top of the stairway tower was a large siren which was used to call the volunteers.

In the back of the main floor, was a small chief's office, a storage room, and hose drying room

This was the apparatus the Pleasanton Fire Department had in the late 40's. The Fire Engine on the left was probably the first motorized engine they had. It was commonly refered to as the Mason engine.

The next engine is a 1945 Mack fire engine. It had a larger pump but did not carry much water and it was only used within the City of Pleasanton.

The next engine was a Old Ford, it was purchased by the farmers in Alameda County and staffed by the Pleasanton Volunteers. It was a backup Engine and used mostly for out of town fires and vegitation fires. The pump size on this engine was 350 gpm and it carried 250 gallons of water.

The engine on the far left was a 1938 GMC pumper with a front mount pump. The pump capacity was 500 gpm and it carried 375 gallons of water. It was fire run for all calls both in the city and out of the city.

When Pleasanton still had a manual telephone system, if you needed the fire department you picked up your phone and a local operator answered it. They were able to set off the fire siren located on top of the fire station. When Pleasanton went to a dial system in the late 1940's, you had to dial a FIRE telephone number and that line was answered at Santa Rita Prison by one of the guards. They had a fire alarm box that they could pull which sent a timed signal to the Fire House. This signal would control the sirens located in town to alert the volunteer firemen.

There was originally only the siren on top of the Fire House but later there was one insatlled at Main Street and Abbie Street in from of the Veterans Building and a second siren at Main Street and St Johns Street. All three sirens were controlled by relay swiches located in the Fire House.

Pleasanton Fire was on the Alameda County Fire Radio System using the VHF frequency of 154.07 MHz, their FCC Call sign was KMF477. In the late1950's the freqency was change to 154.235 MHz.

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