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Eagle Fire District History
July 1946 to September 1963
It wasn't a fire but a fire scare that
motivated the formation of the Eagle
Fire Protection District. On a Sunday
afternoon the Fourth of July weekend in
1946, a cry went up, "The Eagle Merc is
on fire!" Within minutes every available
hose from homes in the area was in use;
however, it was the strong right arm of
Mrs. May Russell on the pitcher pump
handle and the "never-give-up" attitude
of people who just wouldn't quit on the
bucket brigade that made it a fire scare
rather than a disastrous fire. Yes, we
lost the garage and the storehouse and a
lean-to on the back of the Merc, but the
results of the fire bombs furnished by
W.K. Long, together with the arrival of
the fire truck from Gowen Field,
relieved the pressure on the pitcher
pump and the bucket brigade. We saved
the Merc and the Odd Fellows Lodge
building. As a matter of fact, the men
on the Gowen Field truct asked why we
even bothered to call them.
With this
as basic history, we had no trouble
getting a big group of people out to
attend a mass meeting in the I.O.O.F.
Hall to talk fire protection. The result
of this meeting was that a $300 deposit
(furnished by Ralph Wilson, Orville
Jackson and W. K. Long) was made with
the state purchasing agent in order that
our name could be put on file so we
could bid on a war surplus fire truck.
During
the time of the money was cooling in the
office of the state purchasing agent, we
didn't exactly fall asleep, for during
this interim, we learned of statutes in
the Idaho law providing for the
formation of rural fire districts. With
very little persuasion on the part of
Norval Ostroot and Chester Edwards the
I.O.O.F Lodge in Eagle was prevailed
upon to finance the formation of such a
district, which they agreed to do to the
extent of $100. In order to establish
boundaries down to an area where we knew
the people would back the idea by biting
themselves into such a taxing unit. This
area included the old common school
district 12 of Eagle and adjoining
district 25 (Linder), a combined area of
about 16 square miles. . .
A brief
history of the Eagle (Idaho) Fire
Department:
-
1947: Eagle Fire Protection District
formed
-
1950's: First annual Rocky Mountain
Oyster Feed
-
1978: First paid employee
-
1979: New Ford pumper (406) goes in
service
-
1981: First annual Eagle Firemen's
Fun Run & Walk
-
1986: New 3,000 gallon pumper-tender
(405) goes in service
-
1992: New 1,000 gallon pumper (402)
goes in service
-
1994: Heavy Rescue Unit (471) goes
in service
-
1996: Station 2 opens on Floating
Feather Road
-
1997: Volunteer Firefighter's
Association purchases new air
compressor for Self-Contained
Breathing Apparatus
-
1999: Volunteer Firefighter's
Association purchases new FireFlir
Thermal Imager
-
2001: Station 1 moves to new 24,000
square foot building on Iron Eagle
Drive
-
2003: New Engine (401) and Rescue
(471) arrive
-
2008: Station 3 - 825 N. Cactus
Creek Drive opened; Truck 41 - 85
Platform arrived
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