User talk:162.104.166.160

First Fire Pole
Though who invented the first fire pole and later brass pole is still debated in the fire service, there is sufficient historical documented references that indicate it was not “first” invented in Chicago. It appears the fire pole was invented independently in several fire departments in the United States in the 1800s. However, one of the first published documented articles was in Popular Science Monthly, Sept. 1895, “Apparatus for Extinguishing Fires” by John G. Morse. In the article Morse states: “The sliding pole, by which firemen facilitate their decent from the second story of the engine house, was invented by Captain B.F. Bache, of the Louisville (KY) Fire Department.” (p. 617) The date Capt. Bache first used the pole is not specifically documented but is said to be around 1858.

There is also information from the history of the St. Joseph (MO) Fire Department that this department invented the first wooden fire pole around 1871, and then were the first to install a brass fire pole a few years later.