History of New Hanover County Fire Rescue
1950s
The fire service in New Hanover County began as individual volunteer fire departments. These early fire stations were organized to help protect the unincorporated areas of New Hanover County. The members were made up of neighbors who realized the need for fire protection and many times either witnessed or experienced a loss due to uncontrolled fire. The strictly volunteer system continued to grow until at one point there were eight individual fire departments.
1980s
The volunteer fire departments began receiving additional funds from the county through a single fire tax district created to help fund the fire service in the unincorporated areas of the county. Initially, the fire departments were opposed to this method of funding, but the county felt it was the most appropriate means to fund the fire service. Previous to the creation of this special fire tax district, even tax payers in the incorporated areas of the county paid for the fire protection in the unincorporated areas. It was decided to create one fire district, rather than eight individual fire tax districts. This decision was based on the premise that all tax payers deserved the same level of service regardless of where they lived within New Hanover County.
1992
New Hanover County decided to cancel their contract with North Wilmington VFD. Wrightsboro VFD and Winter Park VFD were then contracted to protect the area once served by North Wilmington VFD. When North Wilmington VFD lost their contract with New Hanover County, they decided to sell their equipment, including apparatus, outside of New Hanover County. New Hanover County tried unsuccessfully to retain the equipment that had been purchased using county fire tax funds. After this experience, the county placed a condition in the contracts of all volunteer fire departments that stated any equipment purchased with fire tax funds with a value greater than $5,000.00 would revert back to the county in the event that a department closed.
1995
The county was investigating it's options for addressing the area once served by North Wilmington VFD. Although Wrightsboro and Winter Park VFD were responding to calls in that area, it would sometimes take more than 15-20 minutes to arrive in this area. To make matters worse, this district was separated from the rest of New Hanover County by a river. The two bridges that crossed the river opened and closed many times daily, creating a situation that could increase the response times even more.
1996
Ogden Volunteer Fire Department became the first combination department within the unincorporated areas of New Hanover County. The department hired s single firefighter to respond to calls during the day, Monday through Friday. During this time, all of the fire departments were experiencing an increase in their call volume.
1997
The elected officials of New Hanover County decided it was best to form a combination fire protection system to protect the area once covered by North Wilmington VFD. Initially, they hired a Fire Chief and a Captain. They would design the fire department from the ground up, order equipment, and hire personnel. Eventually, this new department would become known New Hanover County Department of Fire Services and would operate out of the old fire station located on US Highway 421 North at the intersection of Sutton Lake Road.
1998
As the system developed, the need for additional career staff was identified at other areas within New Hanover County. New Hanover County Department of Fire Services hired several more firefighters and began placing them in the individual volunteer fire stations to assist with day to day operations and incident response.
2005
Due in part to annexation, Winter Park and Seagate VFDs closed. The county decided that it was no longer cost effective to continue to contract with the two departments because their districts had been greatly impacted by annexation. The remaining areas of their districts located within the county could be served by other departments.
2010
The last remaining volunteer fire departments were Wrightsboro VFD, Myrtle Grove VFD, Castle Hayne VFD, and Federal Point VFD. The county had an outside emergency service consulting agency study the feasibility of consolidating the fire service. It was determined that consolidation was in fact the best option in order to provide fire and emergency services to the citizens of New Hanover County. Although this decision was not popular among the four remaining volunteer fire departments, it was a unanimous decision by the New Hanover County Board of County Commissioners. On October 1, 2010, New Hanover County Fire Rescue became the sole provider of fire protection in the unincorporated areas.
2011
New Hanover County Fire Rescue operates a combination fire protection system that provides fire suppression, medical first response, technical rescue, fire prevention, code enforcement, as well as many more services to the citizens and visitors of New Hanover County. The department currently operates out of eight fire stations and has more than 200 personnel made up of full-time, part-time, and volunteer staff. Currently the department staffs multiple types of apparatus including fire engines, ladder trucks, tankers, etc. Protection is provided 24 hours per day, 365 days per year.