BY DONNA SWICEGOOD
The Statesville Fire Department has been serving the community for a a century and a half, growing from what was basically a bucket brigade to a modern organization that remembers those who came before them.
The SFD’s history and heritage were on full display Saturday at Fire Station 1 as the department celebrated its 150th anniversary.
“For one and a half centuries the Statesville Fire Department has been a vital part of the community,” Chief Glenn Kurfees said. “A part of that heritage is a legacy we continue to build together.”
That heritage Kurfees referred to included all members past and present but particularly the retired firefighters, several of whom attended the event.
“We would not be where we are today without their leadership and guidance,” he said.
One of those retirees, Lt. Lewis Alexander, compiled much of the history that was on display in the truck bay at the fire station. The artifacts included photos, some courtesy of Steve Hill and the Statesville Historical Collection, as well as fire equipment from years past and remembrance to the two line-of-duty deaths the SFD has experienced in its 150 year history.
Those deaths were Chief W.L. Neely, who was died fighting a house fire in 1936, and Capt. Leroy Horton, who died in a bombing at Fire Station 2 in 1967.
Much of the department’s history was preserved by Retired Capt. J.D. Harris, who wrote a book on the history of the fire department. Alexander took up the cause after Harris died.
“I’m just so proud of these guys and what they do for us and what their families do for them,” Mayor Doug Hendrix said during the anniversary celebration.
The mayor read a proclamation honoring the department on reaching this milestone. “The City of Statesville is proud to recognize the lasting impact of the Statesville Fire Department has made on safety, growth and strength of our community for a century and a half,” he said.
The department’s current historian, Capt. Matt Thompson, shared some of the SFD’s history with those who gathered in the bay at Fire Station 1.
Thompson said the city’s first major fire occurred on December 18, 1854. “The courthouse and nearly half the town was destroyed by a spark falling on the roof of a house near the square,” he said.
The first attempt at forming a fire department began in 1869, when the mayor was directed by town commissioners to buy six buckets and several ladders for use by volunteer firefighters. A couple of those buckets were on display. Those buckets were cone-shaped, Thompson said, for a practical purpose. They couldn’t be stolen since their shape prohibited them from being placed flat on the ground.
On January 21, 1876, a public meeting with the state’s lieutenant governor presiding was held and in March of that year the first regular meeting of the Statesville Hook and Ladder Company was held. In 1878, a second fire company was formed by Black residents and recognized by the town council, he said.
During the ensuing years, the department grew from firefighting with a horse-drawn four-wheel wagon, purchased at a cost of $35, to the modern engines they now use, which are much more expensive than $35.
In 1966, during the Civil Rights Era, Carlton Parker “Pete” McClelland Jr. was hired by the SFD, making him the department’s first full-time paid Black firefighter.
Thompson said the men and women of the fire department, past and present, have been “the forefront of professionalism since the very beginning of the small town of Statesville to the city of growth we are today,” Thompson said.
“For the newest members of this organization, remember you are working under the shadow of a long history of good firefighters and leaders that has brought this fire department from buckets and ladders to the state-of-the-art equipment we have today,” he said.
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