Even though the City of Canton was not incorporated in 1821, the threat of fire was very evident in the community. On a very cold morning on January 26, 1821, a house owned by Mr. Thomas Drayton caught fire. The occupant of the home ran to her nearest neighbor trying to get help, and as a result, suffered frozen feet due to -23 degree temperatures. The occupant lost every article of clothing and furniture that she owned. On the same morning, the roof of the wagon maker's house caught on fire but was put out with little damage. John Saxton, of the Ohio Repository, who wrote about these fires said, "These warnings ought to induce us to reflect on our situation as to defense against this element. We are destitute of an engine, ladders, hooks or buckets."

On May 7, 1822, the City Trustees had a meeting and named George Stidgen as Fire Master. On July 22, 1822, the Trustees of Canton passed an ordinance establishing a fire company. This was the beginning of the Canton Fire Department. The ordinance allowed for the election of officers to the fire company, including a Captain, Lieutenant, and Engineer. The members of the fire company were made in charge of the engine and had the authority to make bylaws to the ordinance. The first election of officers was held on August 31, 1822.

In the early days, water needed to fight fires was retrieved from rain water cisterns. Cisterns were primitive, underground storage tanks. Buckets were lowered with a rope into the cistern by hand, which was a laborious and untimely method of fighting fires. Once the water was brought to the surface, it was sent to the fire by way of a bucket brigade. An ordinance was passed which required every citizen to have a leather bucket in case of fire. The resident's name was generally marked on the bucket, and some individuals added ornate decorations as the buckets became standard home equipment. In the event of a fire, every able-bodied citizen was expected to help form a line to convey water to the fire and then return the empty buckets to the cistern to be refilled. Women and children usually made up the return bucket line (since the empty buckets were lighter weight) and men made up the line which conveyed the water to the engine.

Canton's first engine was the Phoenix, purchased for $270.00. It was a hand-drawn engine with one set of brakes (handles used to pump water from the engine). On July 11, 1822, the Trustees of Canton gave J.W. Lathrop the right to contract for an engine as well as its transportation to Canton. The exact date of its delivery is unknown but the engine was delivered before March 8, 1823. In the mean time, the village of Canton incorporated into a town and the first five bills paid by the City of Canton were for the Fire Company. The first bill paid was for the Phoenix.

The procedure for responding to a fire was quite an ordeal. When the fire alarm bell was sounded, the first group of citizens to arrive at the engine house (where the Phoenix was stored) would pull the engine to the fire. Citizens would form a bucket brigade and dump water into the engine's tank. Members of the fire department and bystanders, would then pump the engine by pulling down pushing on the brakes.

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