Whitefield Volunteer Fire Department History

Whitefield Volunteer Fire Department is made up of men and women who want to serve their community to the fullest extent.  Today’s men and women are just part of the long history of the Whitefield Volunteer Fire Department.  Whitefield Volunteer Fire Department strives to serve its community with the utmost dedication.

It was 1969 when Whitefield community members started turning the wheels on getting everything going for a volunteer fire department.  The very first community meeting was held at the Whitefield Baptist Church with Anderson County Fire Marshal James Hall and Hugh Durham as the community spokesman.  At that meeting community members elected a group of honest and dedicated people who loved their community to become Board of Directors’.  After that, all subsequent meetings were held at George Wilson’s Service Station.  Also at that time Anderson County placed an order for a new fire truck to serve the new Whitefield Sta. 22 District.  Next a location had to be found in order to place the new fire department.  Once again a Whitefield community member stepped up to help out their community that they cherished and donated a one-acre site.  It was located on the McConnell Estate and donated by Mr. and Mrs. Elmer Evans.  Although it was stipulated that if the fire department was to ever discontinue its service, then the land would be given back to the Evan’s family. 

Sometime after the beginning of a great future for the safety and protection of the Whitefield community, the Ladies Auxiliary was established in order to help with fundraisers.  The Ladies Auxiliary members played a major role in getting the fire department established.  They helped raise the money in order for us to pay the loan off for the fire department, helped pay for a tanker truck to shuttle water, and also a grass truck to go off road and other places that the bigger trucks couldn’t go.  The very first Whitefield Volunteer Fire Department fundraiser was a hotdog sale, which was held at the H.I. Taylor’s Auction.  All the members of the fire department came together and had chicken and hot dog supper sales every month for six years until the fire department had paid off the loan from the bank. 

Amongst all of this hard work the firemen had to begin training in order to serve their community.  Training took about three months to complete.  After all the training, the firemen established a group of men to become the officers of the fire department.  Harrison Ellison was elected Chief in 1971, and it was at that point when Whitefield Volunteer Fire Department Station 22 went into full service.  Harrison served as Fire Chief for sixteen years, then in 1987 Harrison resigned and Don Ford took over as Chief. 

The Whitefield Volunteer Fire Department continues to grow, as we have expanded to a total of six trucks, and added two extra bays onto the fire department in order to house the extra trucks that serve the community.  Also Whitefield Fire Department is always looking for community members who are willing to go that extra mile in order to serve their community.  So if you are interested, come on by Whitefield Volunteer Fire Department Station 22 and ask for an application.