Piqua Fire Department to Mark 150 Years with Memorial Rededication

Information from the City of Piqua

PIQUA - The City of Piqua invites the community to commemorate a milestone in local history as the Piqua Fire Department celebrates 150 years of service with a ceremony rededicating its flagpole and Fallen Firefighter Memorial.

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   The ceremony will begin at 8 a.m. Friday, August 21, 2026, and will take place at the department's historic firehouse, which was constructed in 1927 and has served as the department's home for nearly a century. The memorial is located on the west side of the firehouse, 229 W. Water St.

 

   Immediately following the ceremony, the department will host an open house from 8:30 to 10 a.m., where visitors can meet fire personnel, tour the station, enjoy light refreshments and view the department's apparatus fleet.

 

Celebrating 150 years 

   The event marks the 150th anniversary of the Piqua Fire Department, established on August 21, 1876, when Piqua City Council adopted an ordinance creating the city's first organized fire department.

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   The ordinance established a volunteer department consisting of at least 40 able-bodied male citizens, divided into four companies strategically located throughout the city, a station in each of the city’s four wards at the time. Each company maintained its own hose carts and firefighting equipment, elected its own officers and met monthly to train and conduct department business. City Council appropriated $800 annually, divided equally among the four companies, to support the new department.

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   “The history of the fire service in Piqua goes all the way back to the founding of the community more than 200 years ago,” Fire Chief Lee Adams said. “The Piqua Fire Department, as an organization, was formed by the City 150 years ago this month and continues to serve the community today.”

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   Adams said today's firefighters are part of a long tradition of service that stretches back generations.

 

   “Our members, while the most highly trained of any in the history of the department, at a time when we respond to more emergencies than ever before, are only the most recent in this long lineage of service,” Adams said. “We want to commemorate all of those who have served but especially those who gave the ultimate sacrifice.”

He said preserving the memorial helps ensure the sacrifices of the department's fallen firefighters continue to be remembered.

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   “Spending time and effort today to carry on remembrance of these men who gave their lives in the line of duty ensures that their names and their stories are known both by our members and by the community we protect.”

 

Honoring fallen firefighters

   Originally dedicated in 1940, the Fallen Firefighter Memorial, located along the west side of the Piqua Fire Department, honors the four Piqua firefighters who lost their lives in the line of duty between 1939 and 1945, preserving the memory of their service and sacrifice for future generations.

 

   The first name on the memorial is Chief Peter J. Caulfield. A 36-year veteran who served as fire chief for more than three decades, Caulfield suffered a fatal heart attack while directing firefighters at the devastating South Downing Street Holland Mills fire on December 18, 1939. Although the chief's life was lost, firefighters from Piqua and neighboring communities prevented the blaze from spreading beyond the mill after hours of battling the flames, saving nearby homes and businesses from destruction.

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   Just three months later, Fireman George E. Smith became the department's second line-of-duty death during that tragic period. An 11-year veteran of the department and a veteran of the U.S. Army Coast Artillery Corps who served in Siberia from 1919 to 1920, Smith was driving a fire truck to a reported house fire on Cherry Street on March 9, 1940, when the apparatus was struck by an automobile at the intersection of North Downing and West Ash streets. Smith was thrown from the truck and killed instantly at the age of 37.
 

   The memorial also honors Chief Joseph A. Caulfield, who followed in his father's footsteps. Beginning his career with the department in 1920, Joseph served 21 years before becoming assistant chief in 1937 and was appointed fire chief in 1940 following his father's death. On September 29, 1944, while directing firefighters at the Lester DeWeese farm fire on Brown Road, he suffered a fatal heart attack at age 44. Contemporary newspaper accounts described the tragedy as "a tragic repetition" of his father's death, as both men collapsed while commanding major fires less than five years apart.

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   The final name on the memorial is Fireman Edward W. Hafner. A 17-year veteran of the department, World War I veteran and member of the International Association of Fire Fighters, Hafner suffered a heart attack while on duty at the fire station on January 30, 1945. He died several days later at Piqua Memorial Hospital at the age of 50.

Within a span of just over five years, the Piqua Fire Department lost four firefighters in the line of duty. Their names remain permanently engraved on the memorial as a reminder of the risks firefighters have faced throughout the department's history and the sacrifices made in service to the community.

 

Preserving the memorial

   Over the last few months, restoration of the memorial was made possible through a collaborative community effort. Refurbishment of the historic flagpole was funded through a $1,900 grant from The Piqua Community Foundation. The memorial stone and bronze plaque were restored by Edwin F. Nickol Monuments of Versailles, who generously donated their services for the project. The City of Piqua Parks & Recreation Department along with MGZ Lawn & Grounds Care completed landscape improvements around the memorial, enhancing the site as a place of remembrance for future generations.

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   The restored memorial will be rededicated during the ceremony before the department welcomes visitors inside for an open house. “We hope the ceremony and open house give residents an opportunity to connect with the department's history while seeing the people and equipment that serve the community today,” Adams said.

Residents are encouraged to attend as the City honors the department's past, remembers the sacrifices of its fallen firefighters and celebrates 150 years of dedicated service to the Piqua community.