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| History |
The Edgewater Fire Department was established on January 19, 1948. Prior to the establishment of
the fire department, the forest rangers and New Smyrna Beach Fire Department extinguished the fires
in the Town of Edgewater. In 1946, the Town of Edgewater had a police chief who lived on the northeast
corner of Park Avenue. Police Chief Bates acquired several Indian Tanks from the Forestry Department
and hauled them around in his 1936 Ford. Whenever a brush fire broke out in Edgewater, some of the
area youths would clamor to help out with the responding adults to assist in putting out the fires.
At that time, the town was about two blocks wide and about two miles long with approximately 300
residents. In late 1947, after a dry season and a number of brush fires in the area, a group of about
12 men met at the Village Improvement Association Hall, which stood on the hill behind where the
police station and the community center stand today. These men discussed the need for a fire
department in the community and later established The Edgewater Volunteer Firemen's Association. The
department started with 18 firemen including a chief, assistant chief, first captain, second captain,
first lieutenant and second lieutenant.
In April of 1948 Fire Chief Cannon became ill and Elmer Bane was appointed acting Chief. Bane served
as acting chief until October when he was elected chief and then served until 1952. The firemen were
notified of fire by a siren that was installed on a pole at the corner of Park Avenue, which was
located in the center of town. When there was a fire, one of the volunteer firemen that lived next to
the siren would blow it. A shed to store their first fire truck an American LaFrance was constructed
on Park Avenue where the water department is currently located. The shed was constructed by the
firemen on evenings and weekends.
In 1948 the department had responded to five fire calls and conducted drills once a month. By 1951,
the department responded to 26 fires. Because of the number of brush fires in the area, the year 1952
brought about some changes. Chief Banes wanted to purchase a unit with the capability of pumping from
the front. When the department bought a new 1950 Seagraves Engine despite his protests, he, along
with several members, quit in April of 1952.
Later in 1952, the department was reorganized with a new set of by-laws. The new members were required
to apply for membership and the roster was soon filled to 20 men due to the increased population.
In 1953, the men started a dues assessment on themselves to raise funds to purchase another fire
truck. A used truck was purchased and fitted with a custom built tank. A pump and booster hose was
then added. Later, 1 1/2 fire hose was purchased and installed. All of this was done by volunteers
without assistance from the city. Meanwhile, the wives of the firemen formed the auxiliary to the
department in 1953.
Since the meeting hall was running out of room, talk turned to building a new community center/fire
station combination with kitchen facilities and public rest rooms. Mayor Lear suggested this to the
community-minded members of the department and they mapped out a plan and later a building fund was
established. Plans were made to hold a dinner at the Hawks Park Clubhouse in March of 1954 and sell
tickets to raise money. The auxiliary was enticed into helping with the dinner. They baked pies and
served turkey dinners with all the trimmings to clear a profit of $290. Some of the proceeds went
toward the new truck and the remainder went into the building fund.
The footer for the new community center was poured in February of 1954. When the cornerstone was laid
in April of 1954, the new fire truck was presented to the town. An auction was held in late April and
a chicken barbecue was held on July 5th, along with square dancing and fireworks at night, to raise
funds for the completion of the building. The proceeds for the daylong activities were placed into
the building fund. Work progressed through 1955 with the fire station started on the back of the
building. The first ham dinner was held in the new community center on February 21, 1955. This dinner
became an annual fund-raiser for the department. The ham dinners were served by the firemen,
auxiliary members and their families until 1977 when the menu was changed to roast beef. The
department continued this annual roast beef dinner until 1989. The fire station took another two
years to complete.
The Park and Pier project and the widening of Highway #1 that was started in 1957 created problems
with power to the department’s siren. The telephone company worked out a deal with the firemen to
install phones in their homes. Around June of 1957, the department started the phone call system of
notification. When a fire was called in, the person taking the call would call three firemen and
their wives would in turn call three additional firemen. This system worked well until 1977, when the
department began using the paging system, which is still used to this day.
In 1957, a Board of Governors was installed by the Town Council to run the community center. The
department assisted the board in the selling of raffle tickets to be used to purchase air
conditioners for the center. The first Little Miss Edgewater contest was held at the community center
on July 4, 1957, and was later changed to include Little Master. Both continue to this day.
By 1959 when the Florida Shores development started to expand, it was necessary for the department
to increase membership to 30 men. Other changes included more family activities for the membership
because of the many hours firemen spent serving the community. During the ‘60s, the department
started to sponsor many youth activities to assist the community in providing recreation for the
area children.
In 1965 a new Class A Pumper was purchased for the department. Once the new apparatus was placed
into service, the old Seagraves was retired from service. By the late ‘60s, the department again
started to experience growing pains and plans were formulated for a new firehouse. Property was
purchased further south - closer to the center of the shifting population. Ground was broken in
1972 and many hours by the volunteers were dedicated to the design and construction of the new
larger firehouse. The volunteer firemen and their families again constructed the firehouse. The
department moved to the new location in 1973. The apparatus bay of the old fire station became a
storage facility for two years until the city remodeled it into a police station, which moved the
police department out of City Hall. The old meeting room was turned over to the newly formed
Edgewater Volunteer Emergency Rescue (EVER) department, which formed in 1975. EVER remained in the
old firehouse until 1981 when the Edgewater Rotary built a new building next to the new firehouse.
Then the police department used the old firehouse as their sole facility until the late ‘80s.
In January of 1975, the department assumed running Tuesday night bingo after the American Legion post
gave it up. The funds earned were used to purchase much needed equipment for the fire department and
EVER. In the early 1980s, select bingo games were held to raise funds for the purchase of computers
for the Edgewater Elementary School. The teachers assisted with the special games. The department
also used their fund raising proceeds to sponsor baseball teams, football teams, swim teams, soccer
teams, bowling teams, awards for high school teams and purchased uniforms for the New Smyrna Beach
High School football team and the junior high school band.
In 1976, the increase in brush fires lead to the purchase of a four-wheel drive truck, which was
accommodated with a 200-gallon tank with a pump and a booster reel that was donated to the department
by a local widowed doctor’s wife. Later in the year a mutual aid pact was signed with the Division of
Forestry Services and the fire department received a used 500-gallon tanker in return. One of
Edgewater’s largest structure fires took place in November of 1976 and started the workings of a
countywide mutual aid agreement. This fire destroyed Coronado Paint Company, which was one of
Edgewater’s largest manufacturing businesses and brought units from as far as Brevard County and the
Kennedy Space Center. An incident of this magnitude proved multi-jurisdictional fire departments
could work well together and initiated a mutual pact for all of Volusia County.
Two years of contract negotiation with Volusia County to form a tax district was settled in 1979.
This district was titled the Greater Edgewater Fire District and encompassed portions of the county
adjacent to Edgewater city limits. The contract was an agreement that the department would furnish
the manpower and the county would collect taxes to buy the equipment to service the district. Along
with the contract was a parcel of county land on Mango Tree Drive that was deeded to the City of
Edgewater for the construction of a firehouse. One windy February afternoon in 1979 tested the new
mutual aid agreement for the department. A large brush fire started at the west end of the Florida
Shores subdivision and was not brought under control until it had reached the river. The responding
departments were able to protect all of the subdivision's homes and only one fireman suffered a
serious burn injury; he later recovered. It was a large fire that brought units from all over the
county to work together and again directed the department to increase its membership level to 40 men
along with an approval to allow members to reside outside of the city but within the fire district.
Fire Station #2 was completed in 1981 and housed additional brush trucks and apparatus purchased by
the county to fulfill the agreement. The station was the fourth fire station that the volunteer
firemen and their families had constructed for the city. That year continued to test the mutual aid
agreement with large brush fires, including one in June. This fire was started by lightning in the
Crane Swamp area west of Edgewater and burned for three months. The State Forestry took command, but
many hours were spent by Edgewater’s volunteer firemen assisting with extinguishing the fire.
The county contract was renewed on an annual basis until 1988 when the county decided not to renew
the agreement. At this time, it was necessary for Edgewater to return the county equipment and
purchase two Class A Pumpers as replacements. It was also August of 1988 that the first female
firefighter was voted into the department. Until this time period, the department was solely male
members and it wasn't until later that the charter was rewritten to reflect the change.
At the end of 1989, the fire department and the rescue department were joined together. Beforehand,
they were completely separate with many members serving on both departments. In November of 1989,
the city hired its first paid fire department members to create a combination career and volunteer
department. The first hiring consisted of a fire chief and a lieutenant who were directed to hire an
inspector and three additional firefighters. All staff members, with the exception of the fire chief,
were hired from the volunteers. This made the department transition easier. The career members were
scheduled to cover daytime hours during the week when the volunteer response was low due to the
volunteers working regular jobs.
In March of 1991, the city hired additional personnel to staff a single apparatus 24 hours days
Monday through Friday and left the weekends and holidays for volunteers to cover. This staffing
schedule remained for one year until the staff lieutenant transferred to the operations division
which provided the personnel to staff a single two-person engine 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
The department was staffed with 11 career personnel, including a fire chief with a staff assistant,
a fire marshal and 24 volunteers. The Life Safety Division included the fire marshal who was
responsible for performing life safety inspections and fire inspections of all new businesses within
the city. All of the public education courses for the community and the "Learn Not to Burn" program
also were coordinated through this division. The Operations Division consisted of 32 personnel
divided into four shifts. Each shift had a driver/operator/sergeant and a volunteer corporal that
were responsible for the management of their shift of eight personnel. Each shift was responsible
for incident management, monthly company inspections, coordination of daily activities and
administering required training courses to their shift members.
By 1995 the city continued to grow, as did the number of emergency incidents. Since the majority of
the incidents were medical in nature and most of them required advanced life support, the city had
decided to enhance the services with the addition of paramedics. With several members already having
completed their paramedic training it was only a matter of obtaining appropriate equipment and
licensing. The department identified the task as one of their goals and later began offering the
enhanced services to the community on Dec. 25, 1995.
In 1998, the department promoted a new fire chief after the present chief resigned. The city also
bought additional property in the Florida Shores subdivision and built a fire station there. With the
new station, there was a need to hire additional staffing. New members were hired with the majority
of them coming from the volunteer ranks. The fire chief felt it was important to try and hire the
volunteers since they already had demonstrated their dedication to the city and knew the procedures.
In 2001 the department experienced another transition as the city manager had initiated some
reorganization and placed the Code Enforcement and Animal Services into the department. The additional
responsibilities required the department to create another division in order to supervise these
services. The Division of Community Services was created and was supervised by the fire marshal.
Today, the department continues to operate a combination department with 28 career personnel and many
volunteers, which makeup three divisions. The Operations Division is balanced in three platoons of
firefighters that work shift work of on-duty for 24 hours and then off-duty for 48 hours. The three
platoons staff two stations and respond to emergency and non-emergency request for service calls.
The Life Safety Division is comprised of the fire marshal, who coordinates the fire prevention aspect
of the fire service. Code Enforcement and Animal Services makeup the Community Services Division.
A very active not-for-profit auxiliary that is made up of departmental members as well as their
family members and other residents that want to support their community fire department also support
the Department.
The auxiliary is incorporated as a not-for-profit organization and is commonly referred to as the
Association. Along with fund-raising activities, the association sponsors many little league sports
teams and supports the community through various activities. The association has also coordinated
the annual Fourth of July festivities for community for over 50 years. The association also garnishes
support to the Operations Division by the provision of support personnel to do non-emergency tasks
on large incidents and at trainings.
The Edgewater Fire Department has advanced a long way from a police chief carrying water tanks in
the trunk of his patrol car responding to five brush fires per year, into a well-organized
combination department responding to an average of 2,200 incidents annually. Not only has the
department increased its call volume, it also has expanded the level of service to provide emergency
medical services, hazardous materials response fire suppression, business inspections, emergency
management, water rescue and a variety of public education courses including cardio-pulmonary
resuscitation, "Learn Not to Burn" and baby-sitter courses. The department also manages all aspects
of code enforcement and animal services.
The department continues to pride itself on providing very cost effective services while assuring
that the level of service or the customer service is never below the expectations of the community.
As the department continues to plan for the future, the community can expect continuous expansion of
the services that are offered to the citizens. The present goals will guide the department towards
the ability to provide ambulance transport for the residents, increased working relationships with
neighboring communities and additional home healthcare services delivered to patients confined to
their homes.
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