WEST ADAMS COUNTY FIRE DEPARTMENT

The West Adams County (WAC) fire department was formed in 1945 by a group of farmers around the Eastlake area. Eastlake was also where the first fire station was located and is presently still in operation. The actual fire district was not designated as a fire district until 1946. The department consisted of 30 volunteers and a board of five men, Lester Lambertson, Frank Novak, Doc Elmore, Ed Whitle and John Morrison. The department had only one truck which was a 1942 Ford that was purchased from an army surplus store. It was set up so it could pump out of a lake or ditch to put a fire out. Also the truck was able to pump and move to put out grass fires. On the truck they carried 1,000 feet of 2-1/2 inch hose and 300-400 feet of 1-1/2 inch hose and a small buster line to put out small weed fires. The truck also carried 500 gallons of water plus forks, shovels, hay hooks, bolt cutters and hammers for extinguishing fires.

The volunteer firemen had no formal training so therefore for the most part they trained themselves. For practice the men often practiced burning down old buildings that one of the local farmers wanted to get rid of. Along with this informal

training a man from the Denver fire department would come down once a month to instruct the men.

Communication on the days of the old fire department was very slow with no radio communication. So in order to contact the men in time of emergency, they had to be contacted by phone from the Broomfield operator. This often times turned out to be a slow process.

Before the district expanded, its borders were roughly from 84th Avenue on the south. Then the border came up along the Welby road to 104th Avenue. From there it went east to the Platte River then it followed the Platte to the County Fairgrounds, then back to the county line. The district expanded its borders in 1952. With the expansion it took in the area of Broomfield out to the Jefferson County Airport and parts of Jefferson County. After this expansion the district covered many miles, the county was sparsely populated. So since the population was small, there were only one or two calls per month and an average of 15 calls per year.

Even though the department was small and the area was large, the old department accomplished its purpose. Today the department is very sophisticated and has a total of five stations with both paid and volunteer firemen. These men take care of the greater demand placed on them by a larger population and are a great help to our society.

Acknowledgments

I would like to give much thanks to Chief Earl

Stonehocker for his valuable information.