On October 27, 1870, Tunkhannock experienced a fire that burned most of the borough’s business district. A fire company was summoned from Wilkes-Barre and laid a hose line to the river, but all the firefighters could do was keep the fire from spreading further. The name Triton comes from mythology “God of Water”. Tunkhannock residents knew that this disaster would keep repeating itself unless the community had its own fire company. On June 1, 1871, Triton Hose Company was organized and a hose house was established in a small, wooden two-story building next to the Presbyterian Church at West Tioga and Putnam Streets.
