Slaton Volunteer Fire Department
Slaton, Lubbock County, Texas
Marker Inscription
The Santa Fe Railroad established Slaton in 1911. In 1919, residents established a bucket brigade to help fight fires. Alex DeLong served as fire chief of the group, which used chemical tanks and buckets of water drawn from wells to extinguish fires. The following year, the city began work on a water system and fire mains, and in 1922 the city bought is first fire truck. The volunteer fire department grew over the years in manpower and equipment, operating first from City Hall and then from its own fire station beginning in 1928. Today, the firefighters serve Slaton as well as surrounding communities. (2005)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
The Santa Fe Railroad laid out Slaton on the West Texas plains in 1911, and by 1919 residents had organized a bucket brigade to fight fires, drawing water from wells to fill chemical tanks and pails. Chief Alex DeLong led the early volunteers until the city built a water system and fire mains and bought its first fire truck in 1922. The department grew from a corner of City Hall into its own station by 1928.
Why it matters
The rise of a volunteer fire department mirrors the maturing of a raw railroad town into an organized community able to protect itself, a story repeated across the settling of the West Texas plains.
The story behind this marker
AI contextThe era
In the early 1900s, the railroads were still creating towns from scratch across the Texas South Plains. The Santa Fe Railway laid out Slaton in 1911 as a division point on its line through the region southeast of Lubbock. Almost overnight a grid of streets appeared on open prairie, along with depots, shops, and homes for railroad workers and farmers.
Those new towns faced a serious danger: fire. Buildings were largely wooden, they stood close together, and the West Texas wind could turn a small blaze into a disaster within minutes. Many frontier and railroad towns lost whole blocks to fire before they learned to protect themselves.
Water was the other problem. On the semi-arid plains, towns relied on wells and windmills before they had municipal water systems. Fighting fire meant carrying water by hand or relying on small chemical engines, which could knock down a fire but not hold back a big one.
The story of Slaton's fire department is really the story of a raw railroad town becoming a lasting city, with waterworks, equipment, and organized public services.
People & events
By 1919, eight years after the town's founding, Slaton residents decided they could no longer leave fire to chance. They formed a bucket brigade, a group of volunteers ready to drop whatever they were doing and race to a blaze. Alex DeLong served as their fire chief.
Their tools were simple. They used chemical tanks, which mixed ingredients to push out a stream under pressure, and buckets of water drawn from local wells. Picture neighbors forming lines between a well and a burning building, passing pails hand to hand while the chemical tanks attacked the flames.
The town soon moved to give them better tools. In 1920 the city began building a water system and fire mains, and in 1922 it bought its first fire truck. That combination of piped water and motorized equipment changed everything. Firefighters could now reach a fire quickly and keep water on it for as long as needed.
The department kept growing in volunteers and equipment. It worked out of City Hall at first, then moved into its own fire station in 1928. Today its firefighters protect not only Slaton but nearby communities as well, carrying on a tradition of neighbors helping neighbors.
Its place in the American story
Volunteer fire departments are one of the great American traditions of self-government. In much of the country, especially small towns and rural areas, firefighting has always depended on ordinary citizens who train, answer calls, and risk their lives without pay. Slaton's department is part of that long national story.
Its history also shows how railroad towns matured. Railroads could create a town in a single season, but turning it into a safe, lasting community took years of public investment in water systems, streets, and services. The jump from bucket brigade to fire mains and a motorized truck in just a few years mirrors what was happening in towns across the West in the 1910s and 1920s.
The 1920s were a turning point for firefighting nationwide. Motorized fire engines were replacing horse-drawn equipment and hand tools, and towns large and small were buying their first trucks. Slaton's 1922 purchase put it squarely in that wave.
More broadly, the department reflects the settling of the South Plains, one of the last regions of Texas to fill with farms and towns. The institutions these communities built, including fire departments, schools, and churches, are what turned railroad stops into hometowns.
If you visit
As you explore Slaton, imagine the town as it was in 1919: a young railroad settlement of wooden buildings, open to the wind, with only wells and buckets standing between it and disaster. The streets the Santa Fe laid out in 1911 still shape the town today.
Keep in mind that fire stations are working buildings. If you visit, respect the space and never block driveways or bays, since crews may need to roll out at any moment.
Slaton's railroad roots are easy to see. The town is known for its restored Harvey House, a reminder of the famous chain of railroad hotels and restaurants that served Santa Fe travelers. Visiting it alongside the fire department marker gives you a fuller picture of how the railroad built this community.
Slaton is a short drive from Lubbock, which makes it an easy add-on to any South Plains trip. Combine it with other small railroad towns in the region to see how the Santa Fe shaped the map of West Texas, one town at a time.
Written by AI to add context, grounded in the marker’s inscription and the historical record. The inscription above is the original, unaltered text.
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Related people
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