On Nov. 5, 1906, a fire broke out in the saddle factory's wholesale warehouse at Eighth and P streets. The building is now home to businesses including Vincenzo's Ristorante and The Tavern.

"Chief (Horace) Clement saw that the situation was a dangerous one," the article read. "Smoke was pouring up the elevator shaft and driving out the occupants of the top floors of the building."

An all-service gas mask made for miners but adopted by firefighters at the time helped them get into the furnace room and put out the blaze, which caused the 2016 equivalent of $500,000 damage.

Until the helmet arrived in the early 1900s, Lincoln's firefighters grew and groomed their own smoke protection.

"(Early) firefighters -- one of the reasons they had big beards, mustaches and things like that was to filter smoke, their snot and that other stuff," said Lincoln Fire and Rescue Battalion Chief Tim Linke.

Then came the smoke helmet, put to use for the first time that November morning to fight a fire started by scraps of waste leather stored too close to the furnace.

The helmet cost the city $150 at the time, the 2016 equivalent of almost $3,800.

The burning leather gave out a smothering, suffocating smoke, the article read.

Using the helmet, two firemen alternated fighting the blaze. The helmet protected their eyes and nostrils as air was pumped in from outside using a bellows. A speaking tube allowed for communication.

"Chief Clement this morning declared that the smoke helmet saved the day," the 1906 story said. "Without it, the firemen would have been handicapped and, perhaps, life would have been lost."

A disabled resident unable to make it out of the building when the fire broke out waited it out on the roof, the article said.

Although the helmet was the hero that day, firefighters neglected to use it over the years, said Linke and fellow Battalion Chief Eric Jones.

Each rig might have had one smoke helmet, "but nobody touched it," Jones said.

Those who used breathing equipment were seen as weaker firefighters by their peers, he said.

Jones, who started in 1994, remembers the time an older fire captain tapped him on the shoulder while he was looking for fire amid heavy smoke and directed him to the blaze.

"When it was crystal clear (inside), you realized this guy doesn't have a mask on," Jones said.

"And we're wearing everything," Linke said.

Jones and Linke consider themselves lucky they started their careers in the 1990s as the profession moved toward mandated use of so-called self-contained breathing apparatus.

"With our air masks on, we still have twice the cancer rate (than) normal people," Jones said.

Toisnot Rural Fire Department donated a 1992 GMC/E1 pumper to the department Dec. 12 after the engine made its last ride at the Elm City Christmas Parade the previous day. Santa Claus himself marked the occasion by riding atop the engine in its final ride with the department.

The department bought the engine brand new in 1992 and used it for more than 10 years before donating it. Fire Chief Lin Jones said the department's original plan was to sell the engine because it recently bought a brand new 2016 Freightliner Toyner to replace the donated pumper.

He added when the department's board of directors heard about Princeville Volunteer Fire Department's recovery efforts, its members unanimously decided to donate the vehicle. Jones said Princeville Fire Chief James Powell was surprised by the donation when he was first told about it.

"He was totally shocked," Jones said. "He was even more surprised when he saw it."
Powell agreed.

"I couldn't imagine another organization that would donate such a vital piece of equipment," Powell said. "I didn't believe it."

Jones said though the two departments have never worked together before, the donation has brought them closer. He added being able to help another department recover from such a loss humbled him.

Powell said the engine already has been put to work since its recent donation. He said it was used to relieve another of the department's engines at a recent house fire.