The first settlers to the Houston area arrived in 1822. They called their small community Frosttown, and it was located near the present-day intersection of McKee and Race streets.

Frosttown was the place where the Allen brothers - Augustus Chapman and John Kirby - lived while they surveyed and plotted the site of the city of Houston in 1836.

By 1837, Houston was a tent town of 1,000. The clearing of land and subsequent brush burning resulted in the first fire losses, when stray sparks settled on the roofs of settlers' cabins.

When Augustus Allen saw the disorganized efforts to extinguish the blazes, he created a "bucket brigade" - volunteers who formed a line from a well to the fire, passing full buckets of water and returning the empties for refills.

In 1838, Congress issued a charter to the bucket brigade in the name of "Protection No. 1." The brigade became Houston's first fire company and was located at what would be 610 Fannin Street today.