About Us    
 

Membership      History      The Present     The Future 
 

Our Membership

Our members come from all walks of life.  Our department includes volunteers from the following professions:  business owner, college instructor, bus driver, custodian, insurance executive, highway worker, career firefighters, contract administrator, laborer, payroll accountant, mechanic, nurse, plumber, auto body repairmen, store manager, sheriff's deputy, contractor, carpenter, and more. Department membership is open to anyone (male or female) over the age of 18, having good health and intelligence. Laws of the State of North Carolina require that members be residents of, or regularly employed in, the area we serve.
     After leading the Grifton Volunteer Fire Department into action for over 30 years, Edward Meeks has retired as Chief, and our Department is currently being led by Chief Andy Taylor, who has served GVFD since 1989. Our department includes four career firefighters among over 40 volunteer personnel.

Our History

In 1952 the town of Grifton recognized the need for an effective system of fire protection. Under the direction of Mayor Roger B. Johnson, the Grifton Volunteer Fire Department was then founded and organized. Mayor Johnson appointed George G. Suggs the Leading Officer of the organization. There were a total of twenty original members including George Suggs.

 The original Fire Department served the Grifton Community and its surrounding area with a 1953 Chevrolet pumper. Then in 1958 the Grifton Rural Community Fire Association was formed to help supply the needs of the Rural Community. At this time they purchased a 1958 tanker, which was greatly needed to haul water to a fire scene. With this goal in mind the Rural Association, who is governed by a group of twelve Directors of the Pitt and Lenoir County Rural area of Grifton, purchased a fire truck.

 The town of Grifton continued its support of the fire fighting efforts by adding an additional fire truck, a 1971 Ford/American LaFrance pumper which replaced the 1953 Chevrolet pumper.  In 1974, the Rural Fire Association purchased a new Ford/Howe pumper. This truck was capable of pumping 750 gallons per min. and would hold 750 gallons of water.

 In 1980 the Rural Association saw the need to update the existing tanker with a 1980 Steelcraft Chevrolet tanker, capable of hauling up to 1500 gallons of water. It was also equipped with a jet assist dump valve and a 1500-gallon portable dump tank. This allows the truck to empty its full supply of water and refill with a fresh supply of water while the original water is being used to fight the fire.

 In 1985, the Town of Grifton purchased a building and a parcel of land to house a new fire department. Its members provided labor and fund-raisers to help complete the renovation of the building. They moved into their new quarters in early 1986.

Contradictory to the old cliché of “PUTTING THE WET STUFF ON THE RED STUFF”, firefighters need more than just a hose line and water to fight fires. Realizing this need, the department purchased a pickup to carry other types of special equipment. As time progresses, so does the need for more equipment. So in 1988, the department replaced the pickup with a van. Later, this van was replaced with a larger van in order to carry a cascade system to refill the air tanks of the self-contained breathing apparatus (SCBA).

 In 1997 we replaced this van with a beverage truck with roll up doors and lots more storage room. We carry our own air system to fill air pack bottles, and we have added two hydraulic rescue tools (like the Jaws of Life) and a set of rescue rams to help pull the dash and steering wheel away from people in automobile accidents. In all the switch and trade of equipment and truck we have less than $25,000.00 in the truck today, because the firemen did most of the work themselves. The truck today, if we had to buy it, would cost about $100,000.00.

 In 1988 a four-wheel drive military jeep was purchased to assist in fighting fires that were off-road such as brush fires and woods fires. This gave the Department the capability to assist in fighting a forest fire until the Forestry Service arrives. Sometimes even extinguishing the fire before the Service arrived, freeing up the Service for another call if needed.

 In 1990 the Department replaced this unit with a 1986 F-350 Ford Dually pickup truck. The current members of the Fire Department spent a lot of their own personal time to make this pickup into a fire fighting off-road unit. This unit was able to handle more weight than the old truck.

In February 1992 the Rural Association and the town of Grifton replaced its 1971 Ford pumper with a new Chevrolet KME top-mounted pumper. This truck has the capability of carrying 1000 gallons of water and pumping up to 1250 gallons per minute. It also has the quick-dump capability of a tanker. All of our trucks have Pitt and Lenoir County communications radios. The chief, assistant chiefs, and captains have this ability from their personal vehicles at this time.

 In 1994 we purchased a 1967 Kaiser Jeep 2½ ton military tanker for $1,600.00 to help us carry more water to fires in rural areas and to add a second tanker to our department; also to help us with the I.S.O. rating of the fire department.  In 1999 we pulled the Kaiser jeep out of service and replaced it with a 1993 Ford chassis. We put the existing tank on this truck and we have only  $20,000.00 in this truck and the value on this piece of equipment is more than $50,000.00 if we had to go out and purchase this chassis and tank. We sold the old military truck for $1,500.00, approximately what we paid for it.

 In 1997 the department was able to ask for a fire district tax referendum to be voted on and was successful. This was a great need as the needs and expenses to operate the department increased. Today’s fire equipment is very modern and expensive, and fundraisers and donations were no longer enough to adequately support the demand for fire protection. This has been a great help to support our needs, however we still have fundraisers to help keep the tax rate as low as possible for our citizens and community.  

 In 1998 the rural fire association and Town of Grifton replaced a 1974 Ford pumper, with a 1998 Ford E-One pumper/tanker truck, which carries 1000 gal of water and can pump 1250 gal. per minute, for $126,000.00.

State regulations require that all firefighters accumulate thirty-six hours of training each year. Of course the Department encourages as much additional training as possible. For instance, in 1986, the Department had eleven members become certified as First Responders. This allows persons first on the scene to initiate a basic level of emergency medical care to those injured in an accident or fire.

 The Grifton Volunteer Fire Department is a member of the Pitt and Lenoir County Fire Associations, The N.C. State Fireman’s Association, and participates in mutual aid responses to neighboring departments in Pitt, Lenoir, and Craven counties.

Hurricane Floyd: In September of 1999 the community of Grifton and vast surrounding areas were struck by the devastation of hurricane Floyd. The whole community was flooded for several days. This included our own fire station. We lost much equipment during this time, but it could have been much worse. Members were quick to move as much equipment out as possible as the quickly rising waters encroached on the station. All rolling equipment was saved. There was a total of approximately four and a half feet of water inside the building. We were displaced to a rented building just outside of town for over a year while our department was being rebuilt.    

The Present
 

 Presently we have overcome many obstacles, and we are striving to protect and serve our community better than ever. We moved back into our new station in Jan. 2001 and are continuing to update equipment. As of Dec. 2000, we replaced the old 1980 tanker with a new International E-One unit capable of carrying 1800 gals of water. The 1980 model we replaced served us well, but the tank was rusted and beyond repair. We were able to do this in part from a U.S.D.A. grant, N.C. Dept. of Insurance grant, Pitt county allocation and assistance from Congresswoman Eva Clayton’s office. So the cost of this piece of equipment was greatly offset.

We are also proud to be the first volunteer department in the county to acquire a Thermal Imaging Camera. This camera, taken into a smoke filled building, will enable firefighters to literally see through the smoke, allowing them to see a person solely by his body temperature. This piece of equipment was purchased almost entirely with funds from a $12,000 grant applied for by a young lady from Grifton, Teresa Brozowski, who applied for this grant as a school project for her Political Science class. We feel she has a bright future in this field. Also in Feb 2001 we were able to replace the 1986 Ford F-350 dually brush truck with a 1999 Chevy 3500 HD series truck with a compartment body. This truck had also served us well, but as age took its toll, it also was having many mechanical problems. The new truck will last us for many years. In 2002 the Department purchased a used 15 passenger van for transportation for use in fund-raisers, out-of-town training schools, meetings and so forth.

In 2004 we started the process of gathering information and data for the replacement of our equipment truck. We put a lot of research in building this truck using ideas gathered from trade shows all across the country. We enlisted the help and cooperation of the U.S.D.A. in the form of loans and grants. All of this work provided us with a new state of the art unit from Hackney Emergency Vehicles of Washington N.C. that will provide many new aspects of useful equipment and abilities we have never had before, some of which are a full 6000 PSI capable cascade unit for refilling air packs and powering pneumatic equipment, a Wilbert remote control light tower, two pre-connected hydraulic rescue tools with two 100-foot reels, as well as a remote power unit for inaccessible situations. It also has an onboard PTO driven 15 kw generator and 15 S.C.B.A.s. Using a Spartan custom cab, we utilized the rear section as a fully functioning command center including a lap top computer, cell phone, fax, and a TV monitor set up to receive the images transmitted from the thermal imaging camera. Mounted in the front bumper is a 10,000 pound winch on a receiver that can be utilized on all four sides of the truck using mounted receivers and power connections on each side. The bumper also houses a 100-foot regulated air hose reel feed from the cascade system and a 100-foot electrical reel. This is just a few of the features on this truck and we hope to keep it in service for many, many years.

With the purchase of the new heavy rescue vehicle and the height constraints on it, we also had to explore the feasibility of a new building because the new truck would not fit into the old building. So the Grifton Community Fire Association went across the street and purchased a piece of property to build a new building on. This was a twofold project as when we took possession of the new heavy rescue vehicle we had to have quarters to put it in. So we went to work planning a new building, still utilizing the old building to keep most of the trucks in with meeting room, offices and kitchen. The new building is used to house other equipment such as a 16 foot wide body aluminum boat which we use for river rescue...we obtained this boat from the Federal Surplus Property Agency and refurbished it to meet our specifications.

This building also houses the Pitt County Fireman’s Association fire education smoke house trailer used at area schools and other functions throughout the county to educate young children about fire safety. It also houses a tool room, small equipment room, storage room for tables and chairs, and an exercise and weight room that we were able to equip with the help of a local grant.

 In 2004 we acquired a surplus police car from the Town Of Grifton that we supplied with suitable graphics for department use for transportation to and from local meetings, trainings or other activities. This car is also kept in the new building.

 A new E-One/International 1250 GPM top mount pumper/tanker was added to the fleet in 2006 by the Town of Grifton and The Grifton Community Fire Association jointly. This truck carries 1250 gallons of water and can be used as a tanker or a pumper which ever capacity it is needed.

Each year the department participates in the festivities of the Grifton Shad Festival. The members of the department fry fish for everyone to enjoy. This is just one of the fund-raisers the department participates in. They also hold an annual “FIREMANS DAY” each fall. During this event we hold a car show using sponsors to help with the expenses. We started this in 2001 and it has been a great success. Also in 2005 we started a yearly picture drive offering family portrait packages for a reasonable fee. This too has been very successful.

 In 2003 we began doing a fund raiser for the Muscular Dystrophy Association called the Fill the Boot Campaign. In this event teams of firefighters fan out to different intersections and shopping areas and ask for donations to be placed in a fire boot. All of these funds go directly to the M.D.A. It is not uncommon to raise $1500.00 to $2500.00 for this worthy cause.

 Fire prevention is a part of everyone’s life. A major part of that is in education. So the department is active in educating the local schools in fire prevention. The best way to extinguish a fire is to prevent it from starting.

 There are currently over 40 members on the department’s roster. Each one of these members can be proud of the progress the department has made since 1952. They are always charging ahead to meet the ongoing changes and needs in fire protection. Being a part of the protection of friends, loved ones, and neighbors is one of their biggest achievements in life, and the support of the community is like “icing on the cake”.  

The Future    

No one knows what the future holds but it will always need fire protection and emergency services support. The Grifton Volunteer Fire Department will always strive to update fire protection before we need it and be ready for that call for help with ample resources available to us. We have done this in a timely and resourceful manner as to best serve our community as economically as possible.  We will also continue to lower our I.S.O. rating to further save taxpayers money by lower insurance rates. Thanks to our members and community support, this will always be an ongoing venture.

Click  here for more information about GVFD on the Town of Grifton website.
 

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