Over the years the Waterloo Fire Department fought all sorts of fires but some were remembered as especially spectacular or dangerous. One of the first major fires battled by the volunteer firemen from the West side was in 1869 in an old warehouse on Mill Square. The first fire fought by the volunteer firemen from the East side was in 1871, when they were called by the mayor of Cedar Falls to help put out a fire burning out of control at the Overman block building.

For the next fifteen years there were not too many fires involving great property loss until the Fourth of July of either 1884 or 1885 when fireworks apparently set the Amos Woods and Sons Ice House on fire. Other destructive fires were at the old Thompson and Herd Creamery in 1887, the Fowler Company in 1895, and the Illinois Central Freight Depot. A large fire occurred on the 29 January 1901, at the Union Flour Mill on 161 West 4th Street. After the formation of the professional fire department, two big fires threatened the downtown area of Waterloo, the first at the Brown Opera House on 8 October 1906 and the second at the Paul Davis Dry Goods Company on 26 January 1914. Both were brought under control, but the cost of the damages these fires caused was enormous.