It was a humble beginning, June 19, 1945, for newly formed King County (Des Moines) Fire Protection District No. 26 -- with no fire truck until 1947 and an annex built onto the IOOF (Odd Fellows) Lodge for a Fire Station.

As far back as 1925, when a huge fire destroyed Des Moines Grade and High School, the Improvement Club Women’s Auxiliary raised money to improve fire protection. The ladies bought a chemical outfit with two 40-gallon tanks and had them mounted on a 1924 Ford Model-T chassis.

“The Chemical Fire Wagon often would not start and had no get up-and go, so it was not much help.” (One Hundred Years of the “Waterland” Community by Richard Kennedy and Grechen Schmidt)

Recently, Fire District 26 merged with Federal Way Fire District No. 39 to become South King Fire & Rescue.

As such, Des Moines is now part of a department of 122 firefighters, 13 chiefs, 15 civilian personnel, 12 fire engines, five aid cars, a fire boat, a hazardous materials (HazMat) trailer, a technical rescue van and two ladder trucks, one extending 105 feet.

It is the first and only fire district in Washington to achieve a Class 2 fire insurance rating.

Combined, South King Fire & Rescue serves a population of 150,000 in a 40-square-mile area from the shores of Puget Sound, east through Kent Valley, north Burien and Normandy Park, and south to Pierce County.

The assessed property valuation is $11,580,127,341.

Fire chiefs Jim Polhamus (formerly the Des Moines chief) and Al Church announced, “As your Fire Chiefs, we are your advocates charged with maximizing resources and creating efficiencies within the fire district. With the uncertainties of potential regional disasters, we remain more dedicated than ever to this task.”

As impressive as those statistics are, what Des Moines residents ask is: “What difference will this merger make to regular and emergency services for me and my family?” And I wondered, too, after reaching telephone voice mail and an outside locked door at the station.

I felt kind-of deserted.

A tour of six South King Fire & Rescue fire stations opened my eyes to this merger still in progress. Here are highlights of what’s better:

* 12 available engines instead of three, one with a 105-foot ladder.

* Fully staffed firefighters and aid personnel 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Medic One (13) as of April 1 for 65-75 percent of the time, with 100 percent anticipated with September’s budget review, in addition to an aid car.

*Hazardous materials and technical teams and equipment.

* An on-site training center for state required and progressive physical and specialized educational skills training. High-tower apartment-type training rescue was in process during my tour.

* Earthquake, flu epidemic disaster, marine safety and other specialty challenge responses.

* Permanent public education and information staff permanently at the Des Moines station front office starting May 5 for non-emergency calls and fire and safety education services for schools, groups and individuals.

So, what difference could a full staff of firefighters mean in a fire?

Under state law, no firefighter can enter a burning building to rescue a victim unless they enter in teams of two and a safety person remains outside operating the pump. If short-staffed, they could only spray water from outside the building until backup arrived.

Neighboring fire departments historically offer “Mutual Aid,” on an “as available” basis. Now additional help is immediately accessible within South King Fire & Rescue.

I asked Chief Church, “What intangibles has Des Moines brought to Federal Way?”

“A sense of community,” he replied. “The two cultures so enhanced and brought in new meaning of a community fire department. The merger also provides more services and programs for better use of shrinking tax dollars.”

Church stressed the department’s desire to reach out to the community with information-sharing meetings and programs.

Chief Jim Polhamus said, “Our duty as a public agency is to provide the best service we can to our citizens as efficiently as we can.

“Fire District 26 was facing the economic realities of our demands for service going beyond what our economic base could support and did not have the funding (and never would) to provide hazardous material and technical rescue service.

“The largest developments in Des Moines are tax-exempt and that is not going to change in the near future.”

Through conversations with fire chiefs from Washington and Oregon that had been through mergers, they were unequivocal when asked if they were a better department after their mergers.

So, Des Moines fire department has evolved from volunteers, some being ladies of the renowned “Bra Brigade,” and homemade trucks frequently held together with baling wire to become an impressive organization.

What does not change is: Our life can depend on their abilities.

It is said, “The art of progress is to preserve order amid change, and to preserve change amid order.”

Still, I wonder why, “We have finally reached a state of affairs where humans can fly into space safely, but cannot cross the street safely.” Now that’s another column!