After 30-plus years of meticulous research and interviews, retired fire chief Steve Vogel is ready to share the history of Sequim’s fire service.

From its origin as the Volunteer Fire Company and Bucket Brigade to Sequim Fire Department to today’s Clallam County Fire District 3, Vogel has compiled Sequim’s history into a new book “100 Years: Fire Service on the Sequim Prairie.”

He’ll be at Sequim Museum and Arts, 544 N. Sequim Ave., from 11 a.m.-8 p.m. during the First Friday Art Walk on March 7 with copies available throughout the event and ongoing for $25. Each book includes a DVD of news clippings and photographs from local coverage of events in Sequim the last 100 years.

Vogel, hired in June 1982 as Sequim’s second paid, full-time paramedic, said he’s always liked history, and found there to be ample amounts of records for the start of Clallam County Fire District 3’s formation, but information prior to 1948 was not as readily available.

Through his research, Vogel discovered a 1917 map that referenced a chemical fire engine shed that predated the Sequim Fire Department’s formation in 1923.

That led Vogel to dig deeper into the Volunteer Fire Company and Bucket Brigade and in City of Sequim records he found Sequim purchased the chemical fire engine in 1915.

In 1916, the Town Council agreed to have it fixed so it could be attached to an automobile, and its driver was awarded $1 per fire, according to Vogel’s book.

Vogel found a wealth of information in long-lost journals from Fred Evans, Sequim Fire Department’s secretary. For years, he and another retired fire chief, Tom Lowe, looked for the journals.

Prior to demolition of the former Sequim City Hall to make room for the current Sequim City Hall, staff found Evans’ journals.

“These journals provided a wealth of insights into the department’s activities, challenges and triumphs,” Vogel said.

Throughout his book, Vogel interviews former chiefs like Lowe and Iris Marshall along with past firefighters. He also chronicles the timeline of stations, apparatuses and staff and volunteers.

In 100 years from 1914-2014, Vogel said there were 800 volunteer firefighters.

“The ones that really stayed around were the Sequim volunteers, with some of them staying on with the fire department for 35 years,” Vogel said.

In his reading, he also found firefighters through the decades were excellent at their trade.

“These guys didn’t have the gear, but they knew how to fight a fire and I was always impressed with that,” he said.

In the early years, Vogel estimates firefighters were responding to about 200 calls a year with many grass fires and barn fires but not as much readily available access as today.

However, Sequim Fire Department tried to respond across the area, Vogel said, from Discovery Bay to Deer Park Road and records of going to Forks and fighting a forest fire.

“Port Angeles was very much supportive of the Sequim Fire Department,” Vogel said.

Medic calls

For decades, the fire department did not have the background or resources to respond to medical calls, so an ambulance would have to respond from Port Angeles.

Vogel said his and Aaron Espy’s hiring in 1982 began Sequim’s journey into paramedicine.

Initially there was some hostility as volunteers sought new equipment, while fire commissioners wanted a paramedic program.

“Then they hired us, and the volunteers didn’t particularly like us, not because of us, but because they felt deceived that they were going to get equipment and aid cars, but they ended up getting medics,” Vogel said. “The first year was hard.”

Vogel said he and Espy were ignored and discredited by some. He recalls a medic call to R Corner where a man was having a heart attack.

“I walked in the house and one of the volunteers says, ‘We don’t need you.’” he said.

“Then (the patient) went into cardiac arrest and I gave him some treatment and medications, and shocked him.

“He started breathing again, started talking to us and we led him to the back of the ambulance. I walked by the volunteer and said, ‘That’s ‘why you need us.’”

Clallam County Fire District 3 reported it had a record number of 9-1-1 calls in 2024, with more than 9,000 calls for service.

Broad appeal

With so many people involved in the Sequim fire service in its 100-plus years, Vogel feels the appeal could run deep.

“We have pioneer families, family members of those in the fire service, and their children and grandchildren who might like the history of what they did,” he said.

Vogel spent many hours scanning microfiche finding fires, car wrecks and milestones with retirements, hirings, and much more.

The included DVD can be read on a television or computer and is sorted by decade. It’s likely those interested can find a family member or incident they know.

For more information about Vogel’s book, contact Sequim Museum and Arts, 544 N. Sequim Ave., at 360-681-2257. It’s open 11 a.m.-4 p.m. Wednesday-Saturday.

Sequim Gazette photo by Matthew Nash Steve Vogel, Clallam County Fire Department’s fire chief from 2001-2015, has written “100 Years: Fire Service on the Sequim Prairie” and has it first available during First Friday Art Walk Sequim from 11 a.m.-8 p.m. March 7 at the Sequim Museum and Arts, 544 N. Sequim Ave.