Volunteer

Seventy-Five Years of Service

The Jamison Road Fire Hall in the Early 1940’s. Formerly the Jamison Road Garage as it appeared shortly after incorporation.

The Jamison Road Fire Hall in the Early 1940’s. Formerly the Jamison Road Garage as it appeared shortly after incorporation. The volunteer fire service has always followed the people – as areas gain population the need for emergency assistance grows. The first fire companies appeared in urban areas; usually volunteer and some date back to the mid 18th Century. As populations moved to area beyond the existing city- today we identify these places as suburban areas volunteer stations appeared.

The next places to see volunteer fire stations was the areas we identify as rural areas. The time-line in volunteer fire company growth covers many years-in some cases a century or more.

As an example of the multi-year development of the volunteer fire service we can begin in Buffalo, NY in 1817 – Buffalo; a small urban city established it’s first fire company, a volunteer fire company. In time; as population growth expanded; so did the need for more volunteer fire protection. In the southeastern area of the Town of Elma the Jamison Road Volunteer Fire Co. was established just months before the United States entered World War II-1941.

On May 5, 1941 the Jamison Road Vol. Fire Company, Inc. became fourth volunteer fire company in the Town of Elma. That date entered history in 2016 as it marks the fire company’s seventy-fifth year of service to the residents in the Elma Township. What was a very rural part of the town then, has changed over the past decades.

What started as a small fire station in what had been an auto repair garage with a twenty year old fire engine headed by a few Elma residents residing in the area has changed. Over the next 75 years Jamison Road Fire Company has advanced to an emergency service serving what today is a suburban area with many business’s and crossed by a heavily traveled Expressway Rt. 400.

The Jamison Road Vol. Fire Company, is not unlike any other company. Its modernized with time-meeting the needs of the people depending on it’s service. A modern fire station was built and in time was updated to house the necessary emergency apparatus. The seventy-five year story of this volunteer fire company is more than a new and upgraded apparatus, equipment and fire headquarters.

This seventy- five year history is a record of all the people involved; from those that established the fire company in 1941, and the people who followed over the years. Many people joined the fire company over the 75 years continuing the emergency service. These people who helped raise funds to modernize the equipment and have trained endlessly to provide emergency service when needed by the families and business’s served by the Jamison Road Vol. Fire Company seven decades.

If you are interested in joining our tradition of serving the community, please stop by our fire hall at 1071 Jamison Road on Thursday nights at 7-9 P.M. or message us on Instagram (@jamisonroadfire) or Facebook (Jamison Road Vol. Fire Co.).