In 1976

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.