We are happy to announce that the oldest known photographs from the Salt Lake City Fire Department have been digitized and are now available online through our Digital Archives!

These photographs, found in series 23526, provide early documentation of the fire department and the first professional fire fighters employed in Utah. Between 1852 and 1883 fire protection service in Salt Lake City was conducted on a voluntary basis. In 1883 the Salt Lake City Council established a full-time, paid fire department, after a particularly damaging fire occurred in downtown Salt Lake City on June 21, 1883. These photographs help document the history of the Salt Lake City Fire Department as a vital unit of local government.