History

On November 1, 1915, about 30 citizens discussed the formation of a fire department and elected Dr. O'Leary as the fire chief. Earlier organization occurred when as many as 60 men and women, equipped with buckets, ladders and axes would form bucket brigades to extinguish any fires before they could spread.

By 1917 Manteca was equipped with two fire hydrants, 400 feet of hose, two hose carts, and had a newly elected fire chief by the name of P. J. Peltier. Citizens connected to the water works were asked to stop all water consumption as soon as an alarm sounded.

Elwood Leventon was elected chief on June 16, 1922. Red shirts were ordered for members and practice drills were scheduled once a week. Chief Leventon was very proud of his department when he announced two months later that his men could now run two blocks, hook up the hoses and pump water in ten minutes.

The department adopted a constitution and by-laws and the volunteers were divided into two companies. Company No. 1 had 20 active members to fight fires, while the duty of Company No. 2 was to raise sufficient funds to carry on the work. Fire prevention was an important issue to Chief Leventon and he spent many hours improving conditions around town by removing fire hazards and making citizens more aware of fire prevention. His efforts were rewarded when the twelve fires in 1924 were down to six by 1925.

Eight fire alarm boxes were installed in 1926 at a cost of $6,125 and a new American-LaFrance fire engine was purchased in 1927 at a cost of $10,750. The old LaFrance pumper is still the "pride" of the Manteca Fire Department.

In 1930, the Manteca City Council appointed C. Carson as the fire chief. Records indicate that E.R. Van Sandt also served as fire chief until the appointment of Manteca's longest serving chief, Sam Hanna, who served from 1935 through 1957. In 1958, Manteca's first full time fire chief, Victor Killian, was appointed.

The construction of Manteca's fire station #1 at 290 S. Powers Avenue, was begun under the direction of fire chief Victor Killian. By the time of it's completion in 1966, Manteca had a new fire chief, James Gould, and it's first five full time firefighters; Keith Hafley, Rod Overboe, Charles Prater, Stu Rogers, and Finis Shepherd.

Stu Rogers was appointed fire chief in October 1970 until replaced by Ed Smith in October 1973. Fire Station #2 at 740 W. Center Street was remodeled and reopened as a fully staffed station in 1977. Manteca now had a fire station on each side of the railroad tracks that bisected the city.

In May 1979, Larry Drager replaced Ed Smith who resigned due to health reasons. Manteca's 3rd fire station, located at 399 W. Louise, was completed in 1980. However, continuous operations were not provided until late 1983. Charles H. Rule was fire chief from 1987 through 1994. George M. Quaresma was appointed fire chief in September 1995.