Mount Mourne Fire Department
Serving Since 1955
History
The History Of The Mount Mourne Fire Department
On March 17, 1955 the Mount Mourne Fire Department was chartered. There were nine members elected to the Board of Directors, and four members were elected to a community relations board. In April of 1955 there were arrangements made by the committee to ask homeowners for dues in the community. The decided cost was $5.00 per year per homeowner.
In May of 1955, two board members went to the Iredell County Board of Commissioners with a petition for a fire truck. A truck was given to the department, a Dodge pumper that had been used by the Troutman Fire Department. The fire department membership outfitted the pumper with needed equipment. The Fire Chief and Assistant Chief recruited residents of the Mount Mourne community to become firemen, of which 20 men were selected. The fire department by-laws were created by 1/3 of the membership. Training was to be taken with the Charlotte, Huntersville, Cornelius, Davidson, Mooresville and Statesville Fire Departments. A Ladies Auxiliary was also formed at this time.
Next would be a building to house the equipment. In August of 1955, a two-bay building was built. In 1956, a 1936 Dodge truck was purchased from the Pepsi-Cola Company, and our membership built the truck into a 1,000 gallon tanker and equipped it. During these years, there was no alarm notification system. The citizens of the Mount Mourne community were given the names and phone numbers of the firemen to call in case of an emergency. Once a member was notified, he was responsible for notifying the other members of the department. The fire department would host hot dog suppers and annual barbecues to assist with funding. Many of these were held in the Mount Mourne School cafeteria.
In May of 1958, it was decided to map out an area for which the fire department would be responsible to protect. This was decided to be a 4-mile radius from the fire house. An alarm system was the next priority. In 1962, an air horn was installed, which would be used until 1974 when an electric 10-horsepower siren was installed. In 1964, a second pumper was bought. This was a new Dodge pumper with a pumping capacity of 750 gallons per minute. In 1967, mobile radios were installed in the trucks, with a base radio at fire house. Nine members were issued monitors.
In 1969, a 1,200 gallon Ford tanker was purchased, and in 1975, a new 1,200 gallon Ford Tanker was purchased. Also in 1975, an additional 2,852 square feet was added to the fire house. In 1976, the ISO (Insurance Service Office) rating was increased to 9a. In March of 1977, a 1975 brush unit was purchased, as well as a 1962 Ford Van to function as an equipment truck. In 1979, additional monitors were purchased. 22 monitors were now being utilized by the fire department to notify members of calls for service. The yearly average number of calls for service at this time was 22. A Junior Firefighter program was created in 1979 with 15 Junior Firefighters. To date, the Junior Firefighter program is still active.
When the department was chartered in 1955, there were approximately 450 dwellings and businesses. In 1984, a new Ford pumper was bought to serve the needs of the growing community, which was now up to about 1,500 dwellings, businesses and several industries. In 1984, the fire department successfully petitioned the citizens of the Mount Mourne community to become a rural fire protection district. In 1985, a medical first responder program was created. This would be the first in Iredell County for dedicated fire departments. In 1989, a 1,500 gallon Mack Tanker was purchased. In 1991, a Ford Explorer was purchased with grant money from the Lowrance Hospital to answer medical calls. Mount Mourne was the first department in Iredell County to carry automated external defibrillators. In 1994, a new Ford Brush Truck was placed in service, and in 1996, a 1,250 gallon Ford Tanker was placed in service. During the late ’90s, many of the older apparatus, including the 1964 Dodge Pumper, would be taken out of service and sold.
Since the department has been charted there has been 8 Fire Chiefs: George Woodfin 1955-1956, Lewis Edmiston 1956-1967, Charles E King 1967-1971, Phiefer Johnson 1971-1980, Steve Knox 1980-2004, Blake Lawing 2004-2006, Jeff Richardson 2006-2013, and Roger Hoover 2013 to present. In 2000, the Board of Directors approved a request from Fire Chief Steve Knox to employ one part-time firefighter position to work Monday through Friday from 8AM to 5PM. Beginning August 1, 2000, Mount Mourne was the first volunteer fire department in Iredell County to staff with part-time firefighters.
In 2001, a Spartan/Marion Pumper was purchased. In 2002, Mount Mourne Fire Department participated in the North Carolina Department of Insurance Rural Rating Inspection, which resulted in the ISO rating being lowered to Class 7. In 2003, construction began on our new fire house, which was built on 11 acres of Pre-Revolutionary War property dating back to 1764. The new firehouse is located at 1577 Mecklenburg Highway, which is at the intersection of Mecklenburg Highway and Langtree Road. The new fire house was completed, dedicated , and occupied in January of 2004.
Shortly after moving into our new station, a second part-time firefighter position was added on July 1, 2004. In 2005, a Spartan/Marion 1,000 gallon Rescue Engine was purchased. This truck currently serves our community, and is designated as Engine 2. In 2010, a Mack/Baker 75′ Aerialscope was purchased to improve fire protection to the area. In 2012, a Spartan/Marion 2,500 gallon Tanker was purchased. This truck also currently serves our community, and is designated as Tanker 1. Going into the 2010’s, our department’s call volume continued to increase. As a result of the increasing call volume and growing community, night and weekend staffing with volunteer duty crews were implemented. The weekday part-time staff was increased to three firefighters beginning on July 1, 2013. On December 17, 2013, the Iredell County Board of Commissioners granted Mount Mourne Fire Department rescue district status. This makes Mount Mourne Fire Department a dedicated rescue squad, and responsible for all rescue services in our district. On July 1, 2015, we began staffing with part-time firefighters 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. In 2016, the department participated in a North Carolina Department of Insurance Rural Rating Inspection. The results of this survey was lowering our ISO rating to Class 4.
Our 2001 Spartan/Marion Engine was replaced on October 21, 2018 with a 2018 Seagrave Marauder II Pumper, currently serving our community, and designated as Engine 1. Engine 1 has a 750 gallon water tank, and a 2,000 gallons per minute pump. On May 21, 2020, our 1990 Mack/Baker Aerialscope was replaced with a 2020 Seagrave Carolina refurbished 1997 Seagrave 75′ Aerialscope, currently serving our community, and designated as Tower Ladder 1. Tower Ladder 1 originally served as FDNY’s Tower Ladder 17, where she saw many years of service, including responding to the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001.
On September 22, 2022, North Carolina Insurance Commissioner and State Fire Marshal Mike Causey congratulated Mount Mourne Fire Department on our recent improvement to our fire suppression rating. State officials with the North Carolina Department of Insurance Office of State Fire Marshal, after a routine inspection, awarded our department with a lowered ISO (Insurance Service Office) rating of 2 out of 9. This rating would go into effect on January 1, 2023.
From January 2023 until August 2023, our station underwent a total interior renovation. An addition was added onto the south side of the building, which would serve as our living quarters until the station renovations were completed, and would then be made into a gym for the membership. The entire northside of the building would be renovated to host larger rooms to accommodate for the growing community, call volume, and members of our department. Our station would remain closed to the public during this time, but is now reopen for use or viewing.
As of October 2024, our station is currently staffed with part-time Firefighters/EMTs around the clock. We currently answer over 1,400 calls for service each year, which can be viewed and broken down on the “Our Department” page. Future projects currently include having a replacement for our current Engine 2 built by Seagrave Fire Apparatus (Clintonville, Wisconsin), having a boat built by Whaly Boats (Rijen, Netherlands) to be utilized in rescue operations on Lake Davidson and Lake Norman, having a boat built by Stanley Boats (Parry Sound, Ontario, Canada) to be utilized in fire & rescue operations on Lake Norman, and having a training structure built by Forge Fire & Co. (Perrysville, Ohio) to be housed in our very own backyard.