Jena’s first fire protection provided by an old antiquated fire truck, that came from Lord knows where. It had a magnificent chrome plated grill that would peer at you out from the shed it resided in most of the time. The shed was attached to the old Jena Times building. According to Gordon “Bugs” Francis, volunteers would gather when the siren went off. This meant someone had called one of the switchboard operators of LaSalle Telephone Company and reported a fire. The siren to sound the alarm was situated on a tower, up above the building where the telephone company was housed. This building was located across the alley from the C. I. Humphries residence.