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During the year 1908, Gary, Indiana Town Board President Thomas E. Knotts paid a visit to James Horan, Fire Marshal of the City of Chicago, Illinois, and asked him to help organize a paid fire department for the City of Gary, Indiana. Chief Horan suggested his friend, Joseph J. Feely, who had worked with him on the City of Chicago Volunteer Fire Department and also as Captain of the Fire Insurance Patrol. Mr. Feely was commissioned as the first Gary Fire Department Fire Chief and with a discarded Hose Wagon from Chicago Engine Co. 96; the Gary Fire Department was organized on December 14, 1908.
On March 19, 1913, Engine Co. 3 was placed in service with a Garford motorized Hose Wagon. In charge of a crew of 6 men were Capt. Charles Smith and Lt. Charles Henke. This Company's darkest moment came on the night of March 17, 1917, when answering an alarm of fire, Engine 3's 1909 Webb/Oldsmobile was struck by a passenger train instantly killing Capt. Charles Smith and Driver Otto Doege.
Today, the City of Gary Fire Department covers a highly urban steel-producing city of 63 square miles with a population of 125,000. Employing 350 personnel, manning 4 Battalions, 13 Engines, 5 Ladders, 1 Heavy Rescue, 1 Tanker, 5 Ambulances, and 2 EMS Supervisors. The Gary Fire Department also has a Marine Unit, Hazmat Unit, and Aviation Division with 4 ARFF units, in the year 2000, the Gary Fire Department responded to 9,309 fire runs and 22,316 EMS runs for a total of 31,625 calls.
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