Firefighters in Chicago's Engine Company 21 helped invent firehouse poles, and by 1878, all of the city's stations had them installed to increase response times. The sliding pole, one of the signature ...

CHICAGO (CBS) --African American firefighters played a key role in developing a staple of the firehouse: the sliding pole. In honor of Black History Month, CBS 2's Derrick Young spoke with a retired ...

The station is being designed as a replacement for one destroyed in a 2011 tornado. Source The Joplin Globe, Mo. Nov. 22--JOPLIN, Mo. -- One of Joplin's replacement fire stations will take on a ...

EVERETT — It’s a symbol of firefighters, superheroes and dancers. But the pole has all but vanished from most fire stations these days. What’s up with that? Taking the steps is safer. The 20-foot ...

Firefighters slide down the slippery pole to a waiting engine. (1948) Hulton-Deutsch Collection/Corbis __1878: __A Chicago firefighter hears the alarm ringing and slides down a pole that just happened ...

MATTOON - Firefighters stand tall in the eyes of kids these days. Children touring the Mattoon Fire Department often asked firefighters why they didn't have a sliding pole in the fire station. The old ...