The Enduring Blaze: A History of the Aptos Fire Department
By John Hibble
Fire, a force both destructive and vital, has always shaped the landscape of Aptos. Long before European settlers arrived, the native people, who were the first to call this place Aptos, understood this. Each autumn, they would consistently burn the coastal plain, ensuring the rainy season ushered in lush grass as a pasture for the abundant game animals.
With the beginning of Aptos Village came a new kind of vulnerability. Wooden structures were a constant invitation to the flames. For years, there was no organized defense, only the desperate, determined efforts of bucket brigades. In May 1896, flames erupted on the mountainside of the railroad tracks, consuming a store, a blacksmith shop, and a saloon. A year later, in March 1897, a devastating fire roared through the south side of town, leaving behind a trail of destruction: Johnson & Co.’s blacksmith shop and livery stable, J. Lopes’ saloon, and James Leonard’s general merchandise store, all reduced to ashes. The wind, a fierce northwest gale, threatened to carry fiery embers to the Live Oak House, but a sudden shift in the wind spared the hotel from a similar fate.
These events spurred action. A volunteer hose company was formed, equipped with a water tank, a hydrant, and 100 feet of two-inch firehose, stored within the rebuilt mercantile building. A fire bell was erected in the town center, its toll signaling the call to arms for the volunteers and residents who would rush to confront the inferno. Success was met with gratitude; donations from grateful building owners rewarded the heroic efforts for those who arrived in time to quell the flames.
The threat, however, remained. December 1898 saw another swath of destruction: a barber shop, a shoe shop, a candy store, a stable, a blacksmith shop, and a dwelling, all succumbed to the insatiable flames. By 1908, a second water hydrant was installed east of Trout Gulch Road. On a June morning in 1918, at the beginning of the summer season, the Live Oak House hotel, previously spared, saw its barroom utterly consumed by fire.
The turning point arrived on January 29, 1926. The generator building of Ralph Mattison’s vinegar plant ignited, a blaze that devoured the structure and threatened the nearby Wikkerink and Dodge packing house. Volunteers battled tirelessly, only to see the packing house reignite three times as the inadequate water supply dwindled. The writing was on the wall: Aptos desperately needed more robust firefighting capabilities. It was then that the local volunteer firemen made a pivotal decision marking a new chapter in the town’s struggle against fire.
They purchased a Locomobile truck chassis, put a body on it and fixed it up to carry ladders, buckets, and 2 chemical fire extinguishers. Initially the truck was kept in a building owned by Paul Johnston which was too small.
Aptos’ first fire truck. Aptos History Museum photo
In 1928, a collective frustration echoed through Aptos: “Enough with the fires!” Joseph Arano, owner of the Bay View Hotel, sensing the community’s urgent need, generously offered land for a dedicated fire equipment storage building for the Aptos Volunteer Fire Department. The Santa Cruz Evening News excitedly reported on January 31st that the first timbers for the new Aptos Fire House were being laid. Charles Horstman and a dedicated group of volunteers diligently constructed the building with materials donated by the Norton Phelps Lumber Company. Once completed, the fire truck was moved across the street to its new home. Aptos was taking steps towards fire safety, boasting over 15 fire hydrants in the village, and the volunteers even hosted a lively dance to raise additional funds for more apparatus.
The call for a more organized fire defense grew louder. Community leaders Homer Day, Ralph Mattison, and Ira Roy Dodge were appointed by the County Board of Supervisors to serve as the district’s first fire commissioners. On December 23rd, 1930, the town voted to approve the formation of the Aptos Fire District, with a resounding 57 votes for and none against. This decision empowered the community to levy taxes to establish and equip a formal fire department. In September of 1931, the newly established department purchased a powerful 1 ½ ton Ford pumper truck, complete with a 325-gallon water tank, a significant upgrade to their firefighting capabilities. Ralph Mattison, a community leader who had helped organize the volunteers and built the first makeshift fire truck, became the first official Fire Chief, a position he would hold with dedication for an impressive 26 years.
However, the growing department soon outgrew its initial quarters. In January of 1936, the building embarked on a journey, being moved from Arano’s property to an adjacent parcel owned by the Southern Pacific Railroad. The rent was $5 per year. The building was rotated 90 degrees and connected to the rear of a spacious new addition, now large enough to comfortably house the two fire trucks. The original building, now at the rear, served a dual purpose: hosting vital meetings to discuss fire protection and even functioning as a polling place for elections, highlighting its importance in the community. Further bolstering their efforts, in April of 1937, the department acquired a Chevrolet gasoline tank truck with an 868-gallon tank, specifically designated to haul water to fires in areas with insufficient water supply.
The department continued to expand its resources. In 1939, another addition was integrated into the building, coinciding with the purchase of a new Indiana Fire Truck, further strengthening their fleet. By April of 1941, instead of merely acquiring a new chassis for the existing tank wagon, the department made a forward-thinking decision to purchase a brand new Ford truck equipped with a rotary pump, showcasing their commitment to modernizing their firefighting capabilities. To ensure prompt notification of emergencies, a siren was erected on a towering structure next to the building.
After the war, the Bay View Hotel was moved 118 feet west to make room for a new hardware store on the corner of Trout Gulch Road and Soquel Drive. That move placed the hotel and the fire house side by side. The building continued to be used as the fire station until 1953 when a new cinder block, fireproof station was built at 8059 Aptos Street, today’s Aptos St. BBQ.
First Firehouse. Aptos History Museum photo
Second Firehouse. Aptos History Museum photo
The most significant Aptos fire happened on March 17, 1963, on St. Patrick’s Day. The Rio Del Mar Hotel, renamed the Aptos Beach Inn & Racquet Club, was hosting a large party for Coast Counties Gas, a forerunner of PG&E. Shortly before midnight, cooks had spotted smoke seeping from the kitchen ceiling around light fixtures, accompanied by “a crackling in the walls”. The fire broke out in the kitchen and spread rapidly. The hotel walls were hollow to hold bootleg liquor which allowed the fire to spread quickly. The alarm was given.
Three hundred guests were evacuated safely. I am told by knowledgeable sources that the manager went from table to table and asked the guests to take their drinks outside temporarily and that the problem would be fixed shortly. After the guests realized that would not be the case, many of them walked down the hill to the Sea Breeze tavern and ordered additional sustenance.
Two firemen suffered serious burns during the desperate fight by eight fire departments in the face of a totally inadequate water supply. All firefighting had to be done from the street side because of the closeness of the rear of the hotel to the edge of the cliff. The famous inn was destroyed.
Aptos Beach Inn & Racquet Club fire, March 17, 1963. Aptos History Museum photo
Having a business next door to the fire department in Aptos Village did not guarantee safety. In mid-February 1964, the Aptos Garage next door was spotted ablaze at about 10:30 a.m. An unidentified woman ran to the nearest grocery, knowing the owner was Aptos Fire Chief Jim Dorea. He alerted the volunteers, who came running, as did everyone else in town. Register-Pajaronian reporter Don Wilson said the best fire department in the world couldn’t extinguish that fire. So little water was available that the first fire pump sucked up all the water in Aptos Village that Saturday.
1964 fire next door to the Fire Station. Aptos History Museum photo
The volunteer organization became professional when the district hired its first full-time employees in 1964. Then, in 1968, a new Station Number 1 was built at 6934 Soquel Drive at the western end of the district. Station Number 2 was constructed at 300 Bonita Drive in Rio Del Mar in 1973, and the Aptos Fire Protection District implemented Santa Cruz County’s first Paramedic Program in 1978 providing lifesaving care before ambulances could arrive and paved the way for other fire districts to follow.
The district committed to a Joint Powers Authority with La Selva Beach Fire Protection District and added Station Number 3 at 312 Estrella Drive in 1985 and consolidated in 1986 providing expanded services to an isolated community. The service area continued to expand over time to include the Day Valley Area, the Spring Valley Area, and extended the eastern boundary.
The district became an all-hazards fire district, providing advanced life support emergency medical services, aquatic rescue, fire suppression in structural, wildland, and the urban interface, and search and rescue services.
The Aptos/La Selva Fire Protection District grew by necessity from volunteers with water buckets to a top quality, professional team, with innovative, forward thinking, leadership.
In 2018, an increased demand on resources lead to a “Consolidation Feasibility Study and Service Review,” with Central Fire of Santa Cruz County. The study found that the shared services agreement with Central Fire had been of benefit to both service areas and both departments would benefit from shared management and firefighters.
The consolidation was finalized and approved by the Local Agency Formation Commission and recorded on February 4th, 2021. The Aptos community understood that the future of emergency and fire protection services would be improved by the merger, but the community was also saddened to lose such an excellent home-grown organization, ending 91 years of Aptos’ own fire department.
August 2025
Roll Camera, and….ACTION!
By John Hibble
Does anyone remember Fractured Flickers on television? It was a series of short comedies pieced together from silent film footage of the same genre as Rocky and Bullwinkle and Dudley Do-Right. I enjoyed watching them and I was also lucky enough to see re-runs of silent movies on television when I was young. Without sound, silent movies were the opposite of radio where you had sound but no picture. Both radio adventures and silent movies required your personal involvement in the stories. You had to invest your attention and imagination as part of the process in order to fully enjoy the show.
In silent movies, the story line and conversation were written on title cards for the viewer to read. If you did not pay attention, you would lose part of the story. The words on the title cards were painted in white letters on a black background and inserted in the movie at the appropriate time. Part-time local, Alfred Hitchcock, got his start in the movie industry painting title cards. I also remember watching early black and white movies starring local Santa Cruz actress, ZaSu Pitts.
I have found that at least two black and white, silent movies were filmed in Aptos, and I wish we could find a copy to share with everyone. The first was called “The One-Way Trail” starring Edythe Sterling. It was filmed in 1919 and released in 1920. The melodrama takes place in the great northwest of Canada. The bad guy gets the best of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police hero who is chained to a log which is about to go through the sawmill. Sounds like the villain is Snidely Whiplash, right? The heroine saves him in the nick of time. The movie was filmed at the Loma Prieta sawmill and in the forest of today’s Nisene Marks State Park. Scenes were also filmed in Aptos Village on Valencia Street and at the Spreckels Ranch. Several real Royal Canadian Mounted Police were used as extras in the film for authenticity. The attached photographs are from this movie.
Edythe Sterling and Jack Connolly – UCSC Special Collections
Valencia Street, Aptos 1919 – Lucy Hanchett Butler collection
Actor on a high-line log showing the clear-cut damage to the old-growth forest in today’s Nisene Marks State Park. – UCSC Special Collections
The other movie was called “The Dixie Merchant” released in 1926, starring Jack Mulhall and Madge Bellamy. It is the story of a man who is so wrapped up in his racehorse that he neglects his wife and his daughter who move out on him and find romance somewhere else. It all ends well, and they are reunited when the man rides his horse to victory. This movie was filmed on the Spreckels Ranch at a time when Rio Del Mar and Seacliff were just beginning to be developed.
J. Walter, Madge Bellamy, and others. The building in the background is the men’s quarters on the Spreckels Ranch – Aptos History Museum
Jack Mulhall with the Spreckels mansion to his left – Aptos History Museum
Just imagine how priceless the views of our town were in these two movies. If any of you can help us to find copies of these movies or even photographs from them, they would be priceless, (meaning that we could not afford to pay you for them, but we could give you a lifetime membership to the museum). And… CUT.
1/2025