September 29, 2009
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
FIRE DEPARTMENT TO CELEBRATE
125 YEAR ANNIVERSARY SATURDAY
DECATUR - All City fire stations will be open to the public from 9 a.m. until noon Saturday, October 3 in celebration of the Decatur Fire Department’s 125th anniversary.
All residents are encouraged to tour their neighborhood station and meet firefighters on duty during that morning. The department will also be introducing a new uniform patch designed by department personnel which will be worn on all uniform shirts to recognize the department’s history.
The new patch has symbols that represent the department’s inception, the City and fire/rescue services and will be posted on the city’s web site later this week.
The Decatur Fire Department was first organized in 1866 under the leadership of Chief Engineer Benjamin Dobson and at that time fire protection consisted of bucket brigades drawing water from wells and cisterns. Water mains were built in the 1870s and approximately 200 volunteers manned hand drawn fire rigs.
However, Decatur eventually became too large for volunteers to hand drag fire units to fires and horses were eventually needed to pull the fire apparatus. Sensing the need for a professional fire department, three firefighters were hired to join 16 volunteers in October 1884, marking the official beginning of the department that exists today.
Today, our Fire Department has not forgotten its heritage and continues to serve its community with professional and compassionate employees. Our department is a paid unionized department with 123 employees. We protect a 50 square mile area with 115 fire personnel assigned to three battalions manning seven fire stations. We hope members of the community take advantage of this opportunity and visit their neighborhood fire station this Saturday, October 3, 2009.
For more information contact Lt. Tom Durbin at 423-1152 or Billy Tyus at 424-2753.