In 1945, one of the largest fires to occur, burned a City aircraft hangar at Municipal Airport with a loss of half a million dollars.

The next year, a bond issue was defeated which, if it had passed, would have permitted the Fire Department to obtain three engines and a new aerial. As it was, one new American LaFrance 750 GPM engine was purchased. Chief Brown was attempting to replace equipment, some of it twenty and thirty years old.