Saint Paul Firefighters have been providing fire protection to the City of Saint Paul for over 170 years. Saint Paul Firefighters, much like the city itself, predate the State of Minnesota with organized fire protection tracing its roots to October of 1855 with the addition of ‘Saint Paul Fire Department’ to the city charter. Volunteer fire companies reported to this department, starting with Pioneer Hook and Ladder Company No. 1. On October 1, 1877 the department went completely paid utilizing both full-time and part-time staff.
It is often quipped that these early Saint Paul Firefighters were made of iron, working 24 hours a day, seven days a week and only having one eight-hour day shift and one eight-hour night shift off per week. These working conditions were untenable, and the breaking point came when fire calls doubled in a seven-year period from 1,006 alarms in 1909 to 2,072 alarms in 1916 (a far cry from the 65,711 alarms answered in 2024). Saint Paul Firefighters had enough and organized as a union with the American Federation of Labor (AFL) as Firemen Protective Union Local 15408 on January 18, 1917.
The first major victory came quickly with the new union fighting to secure a conversion from a single shift working every day to a two-shift system working ten-hour day shifts and fourteen-hour night shifts. Local 15408 fought diligently to get this passed as a special amendment to the city charter. The city nearly doubled the size of the fire department as a result, adding 232 firefighters to bring the total size to 560 firefighters on January 1, 1918. Organized labor was already proving its worth for the residents and firefighters of Saint Paul with dramatic improvements to the working conditions, safety, and effectiveness of the fire department.
1918 was a pivotal year for firefighters nationwide, with the foundation of the International Association of Firefighters (IAFF). Saint Paul Firefighters, due to their previous affiliation with the AFL through the Firemen Protective Union, were granted a charter on the first day of incorporation on February 28, 1918 and were given the honor of being numbered Local 21. Local 21 wears this proudly as new IAFF Locals, which are numbered sequentially, are now into the 5000’s. Your Saint Paul Firefighters have been there since the beginning and remain an influential Local within the IAFF.
Local 21 secured other monumental advances throughout the years, including decreasing the firefighters’ work week to 65 hours in 1948, and fighting for large investments of firefighters and equipment through another charter amendment in 1958. Fifty-four years after the initial fight to secure a two-shift system in 1918, Local 21 was at it again, fighting and winning to bring the department to its current three-shift, 56-hour work week in 1972.
Local 21 does not exist solely to help its members. With numerous longstanding community events and charitable fundraisers, Local 21 is an active group in the community that its members serve every day. The Local 21 Gillette Children’s Carnival has been going strong since 1959, providing a reprieve every summer for children and families undergoing treatment at Gillette Hospital. Local 21, along with the IAFF, have been partners with Muscular Dystrophy Association (MDA) in helping to raise money to not only improve the quality of life for children suffering from neuromuscular disorders but also to raise money for medical advancements towards better treatments. Local 21 appears in the city’s Cinco de Mayo and Saint Patrick’s Day parades each year, and also supports many local causes via proceeds from charitable gambling.
