History of Edgewater Fire- Rescue

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.

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.

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.

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 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.

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 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.

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.

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.

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.