Our History

The Orange Grove Volunteer Fire Department was organized in 1937, becoming officially chartered on May 7th, 1937. The department had 26 chartered members and a single 1937 Seagrove Engine purchased for approximately $3,500. Members of the department would hold meetings on the first, second and last Thursday of each month. The first being a business meeting, and the remaining two are practice drills. 

The department command consisted of a Chief, First Assistant Chief and a Second Assistant Chief. Officers were President, Vice President, Secretary and a Treasurer. The department was divided into three companies consisting of a Captain in charge, along with an Engineer, a chauffeur, three linemen, and one plug man.  

Minutes from the business meetings of the Orange Grove Volunteer Fire Department reveal the history behind the organization including one of the first projects of the department. The members contacted local farmers to install 2-1/2” connections to their cisterns. These would be used to hook-up trucks. However, on March 3rd, 1938, it was approved to purchase several three-gallon galvanized buckets to be used on rural fire instead. The method of fighting fires has changed drastically since 1938.

The original department was a small tin garage-like building on Eugenia Street. In 1974, the department was moved to a brick building on Pundt Ave, across from the current City Hall of Orange Grove. Community members can still see the outline of the original garage doors of the department where the brick now stands in their place. The department is now housed in an eight-bay tin building on Eugenia Street, across from the Post Office of Orange Grove.