In 1885, a second frame building was built at 232 South Topeka, and was called the Number 2 Independent Fire Company with W.W. Furrow as Foreman, and A.S. Brownewell as Assistant Foreman. Later the two rival units were arguing over who would put out the fires and the department was once again revamped and for the first time firemen received money for their services. Members were given a dollar for each night run to a fire and one dollar and fifty cents for each day run. Each man was furnished with uniforms, a black rubber coat and a huge rubber helmet. There were also some rubber boots, but since most of the men wore heavy boots, they weren't considered necessary. Most importantly, a belt was issued made of leather with a buckle with the word "Deluge" and the belt contained a pocket in which a hose spanner was carried. The spanner was used to tighten and to break the couplings on the hose. The men would no more think of going to a fire without putting on their belt than they would have thought of running out to fight a fire without the hose reel.

In the good old days of the Deluge Company, the fires were extinguished, or attended by volunteers who did not take on the work for the pay. Although the volunteers were paid it was not enough to make the job worthwhile from the financial standpoint as they would go for a month or two without a fire. They were able to hold their new organization together with social events. Each member paid twenty-five cents a week into a fund which paid the members four dollars and fifty cents a week when they were ill. (The forerunner of the present Firemen's Relief Association.)

The hose reels were pulled by eighteen men on a rope and two men on the guiding shafts. In dry weather, the going was fairly easy even on the City's unpaved streets, but when there was snow or mud they really had a tough time of it. Each carried hose similar to that being used today (in size and appearance) and they also carried climbing poles, axes and picks. When the bell was rung in the tower of Number 1 Hose House, located at 220 North Market, the men would grab the hose cart and soon have it at the blaze. The bell was rung in such a manner that the volunteers knew the approximate location of the fire. i.e, if the fire was in the 4th Ward, the bell was run four times, etc. There was considerable glory in making the fire run and helping to extinguish the fire. The apparatus was always followed by a string of pedestrians and horse-drawn vehicles as a fire in those days was a real big occasion and everybody attended.

Businessmen of the city backed the volunteers who would desert their regular jobs the moment they heard the strident clamor of the fire bell.

There never was an incident of an employer docking the men for their absence. In fact, the municipality went even farther, it offered each member a free lot in Highland Cemetery if the volunteer lost his life in the line of duty. This lot was supposed to be a special bonus to the volunteer firemen, just as was the offer of the City of give volunteers preference for employment on the paid department when it came into being.

In 1886, the City was spreading out in all directions from the huge (in those days) standpipe at Riverview and the river where the pumps provided Wichita with part of its drinking water and all of its water for firefighting. The volunteers were proud of their organization, but there was more work than play to fighting fire and pulling the heavy hose carts and ladder wagons. Most of them were looking forward to the time when the horsedrawn equipment would replace the handdrawn apparatus. The volunteers scored their biggest success on a fire in the Robinson Brothers Department Store (present site of Walkers Department Store). The alarm came in about 10 p.m. and in a short time this fire had been extinguished but they had about two feet of water on the floor.

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