The Pulaski Fire Department is the oldest department in the town of Pulaski. The Pulaski Hose Company, as it was called then, was organized in 1880, with Dr. C.E.C. Peyton serving as the first Fire Chief. It was not until 6 years later, in 1886, that the Town of Pulaski was formed. On March 8, 1895, town council was asked by the Hose Company to furnish the department with rooms for storing the hose reels and meeting rooms for about 25-30 men. The Hose Company also asked that council also pay the rent on the present hose house. Council Approved these requests and gave $250.00 to be used  by the hose company for the coming year.

The Fire and Water Committee was to meet with the Hose Company to select a site to build the new hose house and meeting room on. The new hose house was built and this gave the Hose Company two hose houses. One located on Lee St. where Renfro is located now, and the other one located on 4th St NW where Cook's Remodeling is located now. In 1902, the Town took over the equipment and operations of the Hose Company and appointed Sheriff C.E. Bones, Chief. Also in 1902, the Town started the practice of paying for the use of horses to pull the equipment to and from the fire scene.

The payment of $2.50 was made to the owner of the horses to pull the equipment to the fire and $2.50 to pull the equipment back to the fire station after the fire. In 1909, the Town bought horses for the fire equipment and appointed A.T. Bones, Chief. On December 9, 1909, one of the largest the department had fought occurred on 2nd St. and Main St. The Garmorhunt building burned with a resulting fire that destroyed almost every building on the entire block. This building was owned by R.L. Gardner, R.R. Moore, and A.B. Hunt and was declared a total loss at $75,000.00. After this fire, there was much discussion about the Town buying a ladder truck for the fire department. On January 4, 1910, the Town approved to  buy a horse drawn ladder truck for the fire department.

During 1916-1917, the Town passed several ordinances designed to prevent fire and loss of life. The Fire Escape Ordinance, ordinance to control traffic at fires, and the Anti Shingle Roof Ordinances were passed. In December 1917, the Paul Knitting Mill asked Council to install a fire hydrant at their plant. This was denied since Council felt the fire protection in that area was adequate at that time. At this same time, the Fire Committee suggested improvements be made to the hose house and recommended the purchase of a motorized fire truck with a  chemical tank.  A committee was formed to check on the truck and report back to Council.

On February 18, 1918, Council approved to build a new fire station and purchase a new American LaFrance pumper truck costing $7,475.00. The Hose Company took delivery on the new truck that year. Plans were submitted to Council for the new fire station. A site for the fire station was searched for with many locations being looked at until the final site was chosen and the station was built in 1924. During the period of time that the fire station was in the planning stages, several major events occurred. In 1920, the fire department started sponsoring a carnival to help raise money for the department. Council approved this request on one condition, that there would be no "objectionable features" found at such shows.

The carnivals continued until 1941, when they were stopped at the request of town merchants. The merchants felt that the carnival was taking money away from them. If the fire department stopped having carnivals, then the merchants would financially support  the fire department. The other major event was the Hose Company was re-organized in 1921 and re-named, the Pulaski Fire Department. In January 1922, the fire department asked C&P Telephone Company for a system for notifying members of a fire alarm. C&P advised that they would keep a phone line open at the fire station for directions.

In January, 1924, Bob Bunts, Jr., asked Council to exchange some land that the hose house was on now, for a piece of property located on Jefferson Ave. On April 8, 1924, Mr. A.H. Wygal was hired to take charge of the fire equipment and be the Town's Electrical Inspector and Fire Inspector. Plans were made for Mr. Wygal to live in an apartment over the fire station. This apartment was later converted into the living quarters of the paid firefighters and is in use today. By the end of 1924, the new department headquarters was completed. In 1925, the Pulaski Fire Department Band was organized with Mr. A.U. Fine as band director. Mr. Fine had been the band director for the Czar of Russia. The band was active until World War II and help many concerts in Jackson Part.

In 1927, the department purchased a 1926 American LaFrance pumper. This pumper saw action until the early 1970's. In 1939, A.H. Wygal was promoted to Chief and D.F. Ray assistant chief. Frank Gibb was hired as a paid firefighter. The department also started paying a regular fee to members for attending fires, drills, and meetings. 1941 saw another re-organization of the fire department and for the first time, written minutes of the fire department meetings were kept. Until this time only roll call records were kept. Also in 1941, the fire department received a big "surprise" from the Mayor. Mayor E.W. Calfee had been to New York on a business trip and while there, he purchased a 1941 American LaFrance ladder truck. The truck was to be delivered December 21, 1941 and would come by train from New York. This was the first the fire department knew of the purchase.

The ladder truck was in service until the early 1980's when it was sold to the Kazim Temple Clowns and replace with the 1970 American LaFrance that is in service today. In 1955, D.G. Ray was appointed Chief and W. A. Hall appointed assistant chief. 1956 saw another tragedy in the town. The Valley View Apartment explosion occurred. This explosion was caused by a gas leak and killed several people and injured many other. 1959 brought the retirement of the first active firefighter of the Town of Pulaski. Mr. Brown Frost retired that year.

From 1959 through 1963, the Pulaski Fire Department fought many fires, both large and small, but, on December 7, 1963, the fire at the Plastic Plant on 1st Street caused several firefighters to be severely injured. Firefighters from Pulaski that were injured were, Chief D.G. Ray- heart attack, Asst. Chief W.A. Hall- broken leg, firefighter R.E. Hoback- broken back, firefighter R.E. Cole- cuts and bruises, firefighter Ray Tilley-  heart attack. Also injured were firefighters from the Dublin Fire Department, Dusty Smith- cuts, Tommy Lorton- knee injury. Dublin was assisting Pulaski with mutual aid.

In 1964, Chief Ray retired and W.A. Hall was appointed as Chief and Ralph Pearce was appointed Asst. Chief. Chief W.A. Hall remained Chief until his retirement on January 1, 1991. 1964 saw the addition of the second engine bay to the fire station and a new plectron radio system was installed. This was the system used for alerting firefighters of a fire alarm. This system has been updated and replaced with smaller, more reliable pagers. During this time, the Pulaski Training Center was constructed by members of the department. This training center is used by the fire department not only to train their members, but also members from the surrounding fire departments in Virginia, West Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Maryland.

The training center is also used by local law enforcement agencies, New River Criminal Justice Training Academy, Department of Corrections, National Guard and Army Reserves and area EMS units for training. The Pulaski Training Center is also recognized by the Department of Fire Programs as a Regional Training Center. The Pulaski Fire Department is a leader in the Fire Instructor Certification Program, with many of the members  qualified to teach firefighting techniques, arson detection, origin and cause, and many more fields in the fire service. The training center has six classrooms, live fire burn building, smoke and repelling tower, S.C.B.A. maze trailer, equipment shelter and storage buildings. Also located on the training grounds are mock ups of a fire pumper, hose beds, L.P. gas fire simulator, drafting pit for pumping operations and simulated utility controls.

On December 28, 1989, a fire occurred that had a tremendous impact on the entire county. It was on this date at approximately 11:30 a.m., that the fire was reported at the Pulaski County Courthouse on Main Street. The fire was believed to have been caused by an electrical short in the wiring in the attic. The fire, which started in the attic, quickly spread throughout second floor and the interior attack had to be abandoned. A defensive attack was made on the fire by departments from Pulaski, Dublin, Draper and Newbern. Several firefighters from other county departments responded to assist. The building was closed except  for several court employees in the clerks office on the second floor of the building when the fire broke out. They were able to barely escape down an exterior fire escape on the other end of the building. This fire caused several million dollars in monetary loss but the loss of old court records and valuable documents is irreplaceable. The building was able to be renovated and is now a very safe and modern building.

On January 1, 1991, Chief W. A. (Bill) Hall retired with 33 years of service to the Town of Pulaski and it's citizens. Jeff Hall (no relation to Bill) was appointed Fire Chief. During the next ten years, the Pulaski Fire Department fought many fires both large and small. One of the most significant large loss fires was in December 1997 at Rental Towels on Dora Highway. This fire started in the early morning hours from sparks from welding operations inside the plant. The fire department received the call and was on scene in less than 5 minutes. However, the fire had gotten into some oil soaked floor mats and spread quickly throughout the building. Departments from Dublin, Newbern, Draper, City of Radford and the Pulaski Furniture Fire Brigade assisted Pulaski. The town's Public Works department also provided men and heavy equipment to bring the fire under control. Thankfully, there were no injuries or loss of life. This fire was also the first major fire the department used their new 1997 International Freightliner pumper. This truck was placed into service only a few months before the Rental Towel fire.

1998 was the 50th year anniversary for Volunteer Captain, Charles L. Haymore. Charlie joined the department in 1948 and has remained a very active member. The department held an anniversary dinner at the fire station. Many of Charlie's friends and family members attended this event.1999 brought a change to the department with the Fire Marshal's office being moved to the engineering department and given added responsibility for code enforcement of Property Maintenance code and assisting with the building code. This also reduced the paid staff to 10 personnel. Chief Jeff Hall retired with 25 years of service in October 2000. William Webb, Jr. was appointed as Interim Fire Chief. Bill was appointed as Fire Chief in February 2001. Chief Webb started as a volunteer and moved up through the ranks as a paid firefighter, Sergeant, Captain and finally Fire Chief.

The Pulaski Fire Department is a combination of both paid and volunteer firefighters. 10 members make up the paid portion of the department. The Captains, Sergeants and Firefighters work on a 24 hour schedule, with a 3 man shift on duty each day. The Fire Chief works dayshift on a 5 day schedule. All paid personnel including the Fire Chief are on a call status even on off duty time. Volunteer members make up 25-30 positions in the department with 2 Captains, 5 Lieutenants, and 19-24 Firefighters. All members are required to maintain, at minimum, 40 hours of training per year.

All members are also required to be certified, at minimum, Firefighter II,  by the Commonwealth of Virginia Department of Fire Programs, within a 2 year period of joining the department. The Firefighter I class in 135 hours and Firefighter II is 115 hours, for a total of 250 hours of classroom and practical training. The amount of time required to train to become a firefighter puts a great strain on a firefighters family and job. It takes great commitment from the firefighter to meet the requirements of the department. It is such a big commitment that few people are willing to take. However, the firefighters that make this commitment are better trained and more able to protect the citizens of our community.

The Pulaski Fire Department is one the few departments in this part of the state that have paid personnel. Bristol, Wytheville, Radford, Dublin, and Roanoke being the other departments with some or all paid personnel. One of the advantages of having paid personnel is that they take care of all the maintenance of the vehicles and building. The equipment of the fire department is kept in excellent working condition and is able to respond to any emergency that may occur. Another advantage of having a paid department can be seen in rates citizens and businesses pay for fire insurance. The Insurance Service Office (ISO) rates communities for the purpose of insurance rates. One of the areas that the ISO look at very closely is the fire protection that the community has. The better rating a fire department has, the lower the insurance rates for the community.

The Pulaski Fire Department has an ISO rating of 5/9. The 5 rating is for the Town of Pulaski and the 9 rating is for the area of Pulaski County that is covered by the department. The ISO rating is on a scale of 1-10 with 1 being the best and 10 being the lowest rating. A 5 rating for a rural fire department is an excellent rating. There are very few departments in the United States that achieve a 1 rating. The Pulaski Fire Department does respond to areas of Pulaski County. The coverage area includes Mt. Olivet Road and Caseknife Road from the town limits to Wythe county, Robinson Tract road and Alum Spring road to the top of Little Walker Mountain, Rt. 11 to the Golf Course and Rt. 99 to the Interstate bridge. The fire department also has a mutual aid agreement with the county fire departments that we will respond to their areas if needed and the county fire departments will respond to the Town of Pulaski if requested.

The Pulaski Fire Department provides a broad service to the citizens of the community with not only fire suppression, but also an excellent program  of fire prevention and education  through classes, lectures, and presentations. These programs are available to the public, civic groups, and individuals at no charge. The department also provides services that are not thought of as being traditional fire department activities such as removing water from flooded basements, removing animals from buildings and trees, replacing batteries in smoke detectors and checking houses for unusual noises. The fire department also assists REMSI during accidents, and other calls as manpower allows.

Each year the Pulaski Fire Department participates in the observance of National Fire Prevention Week. The department sends men and equipment to the area schools to give programs about home fire safety and demonstrate some of the equipment. The department also sets up an equipment display on Thursday of Fire Prevention Week in front of the fire station. This display is there so the citizens of our community can see the equipment and talk with the members of the department. The Pulaski Fire Department is "owned" by the citizens and they need to see where their tax money is being used. The department wants the citizens to feel like they are part of the department. On Thursday night of Fire Prevention Week, the department holds it's annual Fire Parade.

The parade is unique in that firefighters and equipment from all over Southwest Virginia participates. There are as many as 100 emergency vehicles in the parade and many more groups such as scouts, football teams, cheerleaders and civic groups. Not only is the display and parade held for the citizens to see their equipment, it is held in honor of the people that were killed in the Great Chicago Fire on October 9, 1871. There were some 300 killed and 100,000 left homeless after this fire. This fire also destroyed 17,000 buildings. The department uses this week to increase citizens awareness of the fire problem and to educate people in fire prevention practices.

The mission of the Pulaski Fire Department is to provide the Town of Pulaski an effective, well trained and professional team of firefighters, to protect the lives and property of the community through fire suppression, and fire prevention and education, in the most cost effective manner possible. The Pulaski Fire Department is here to serve you, the citizens, and with your support will continue to do so.

The information contained in this history is correct and accurate as much as I have been able to verify it with minutes of the Town Council meetings.

Chip Hutchinson

Fire Marshal

Town of Pulaski