The Cedar Hill Fire Protection District is celebrating its 75th anniversary this year, and two public events will be held this year to commemorate the milestone.
On April 5, the district will hold open houses at its three stations, and the district’s auxiliary is making passbooks that can be stamped at each station. Once the book is completed, the district will reward the participant with a “special token of appreciation,” which will be kept a secret until the event begins, Cedar Hill Fire Chief Mick Fischer said.
“We don’t want to spoil it,” he said.
On Sept. 6, the district will have a picnic at the Big River VFW in Cedar Hill, with free food and drinks for attendees. Fischer said the picnic will allow firefighters to showcase various district apparatus, firefighting techniques and safety maneuvers.
“We want to show off everything and thank the community for always supporting us,” he said.
Fischer said he joined the district in 1994 and remembers when it celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2000 and looks forward to the next big anniversary celebration.
“Having those roots with the district, it is exciting for me to celebrate the 75th,” Fischer said. “We really want to share our history with everybody this year.”
Becoming a district
Cedar Hill Fire began as an all-volunteer association in 1950, operating solely on donations from businesses and residents in the community. In 1971, voters approved a measure to make Cedar Hill Fire a district, which meant it could use a portion of property taxes to fund it.
John Buxton, a shop owner, proposed the idea of a volunteer fire department serving the Cedar Hill area at the Walter Rose Tavern on May 29, 1950, to a group of local businesspeople and residents. Buxton became the president of the Cedar Hill Community Fire Association at the meeting.
After a successful fundraising picnic that summer, the association worked to find a suitable building for a fire station and purchase a truck.
On Aug. 19, 1950, Buxton died of a heart attack, leaving the fledgling association without a president.
“The loss was great to the Cedar Hill community,” according to a historical document about the district. “John Buxton’s influence and his ideas for the future of this association did not pass with him. His great enthusiasm so fired his many friends that they would have felt that they let John down if they didn’t make the association a success.”
After his death, Buxton’s store was donated to Cedar Hill Fire to use as its first official station and is still used today as Station 1. Additions have been made to that two-story building at 6766 Cedar Hill Road near Hwy. BB in Cedar Hill, including bays for the fire apparatus and offices for administration, Fischer said.
Assistant Chief David Jones began as a junior volunteer firefighter with the district at 13 years old in 1986. He became a full-time firefighter in 1995. He said he remembers when the upper level of Station 1 was used as a meeting room and bunk space for the volunteers.
“We would come in, get our folding chairs out (for meetings),” Jones said. “All of the firefighters smoked at the time. You’d be sitting there in the meeting, and as it went on you would slouch down further in your chair to get fresh air because the smoke would get so thick.”
Jones said when he first began volunteering, the district had an office phone, and when community members called about an emergency, the volunteer at the station would take down the information about the incident on a chalkboard and then set off a siren.
“That’s how the firefighters knew there was a fire because the House siren went off,” he said. “They had to live within earshot of the firehouse to hear the siren.”
Adolph Bauer served as Cedar Hill Fire Protection District’s first chief. The district was then called the Cedar Hill Community Fire Association.
Jones said he has a lot of family history with the district. His great uncle, Adolph Bauer, served as the first chief (1950-1951). His uncle, Jim Woodard, also served as chief (1988-1991). His father, three other uncles, a few cousins and both of his children have worked in the district. His mother and wife are in the auxiliary.
“I thought in high school I wanted to be an architect,” Jones said. “I have a degree in architectural drafting and construction technology. I was a draftsman in a surveying office right out of college for a couple of years when the opportunity came that they were hiring here (at Cedar Hill Fire). This is what I really wanted to do; I never left.”
Expanding
Cedar Hill Fire built a second station in 1981, thanks to a series of bond issues and tax levies voters approved. Station 2 is at 8800 Hwy. 30 in Dittmer.
Station 3, at 8790 Byrnesville Road in Cedar Hill, was completed in 1995, along with an addition to Station 2. Fischer said the addition provided living quarters for volunteers and a full-time crew.
The district has two command vehicles in its fleet, as well as a utility vehicle, three rescue pumpers, two tankers, a pumper/tanker, three brush trucks, an inflatable boat and a rigid hull boat.
The district’s most recent addition, a 2024 Pierce pumper/tanker, was delivered to Station 1 in October. It cost $842,870.
The Cedar Hill Fire Protection District purchased its first firetruck in 1950 for $7,001.50. The district houses the truck today at Station 3 in Byrnesville.
The district’s first firetruck, a 1950 Ford F-7 manufactured by the Central Fire Truck Corporation, was purchased for $7,001.50. The truck is still owned by the district and is kept at Station 3, Fischer said.
“Since its inception, (the association) did a very good job of fundraising, but that was really hard work for them,” Fischer said. “Not only were they trying to be volunteer firefighters and protect the citizens, but they were also trying to find ways to raise the funds to keep it going. A lot of the founding members were business owners, and they all signed the note on the first truck. They put their name on the line because the fire district didn’t have any money yet to buy it.”
Looking toward the future
Fischer said the district has grown steadily since its inception. The district has 24 full-time staff members, 10 part-time firefighters and about 15 volunteers.
The biggest goal for Fischer is to hire more full-time firefighters, as the number of volunteers seems to decrease year after year.
“Everybody’s lives are busier,” Jones said. “A lot of families require two incomes, so they just don’t have the time to dedicate to the district.”
Fischer said the district’s call volume has increased from about 400 calls a year in the 1990s to nearly 1,500 calls last year, showcasing the need for more firefighters.
He said the district owns property in Morse Mill, which could be used for another station.
“There will come a time where we’ll probably build some more firehouses as our community continues to grow,” Fischer said. “We want to construct firehouses so that people are covered like they deserve to be.”
Fischer said another goal is to maintain the district’s connections to the community.
“We try to make ourselves open to the community,” he said. “We try to remain a community hub. We’ve got to show our community that we’re not just there to put out fires.”