History Continued...

Another problem, from the beginning, was that of cramped quarters.  In the Spring of 1934 the town rented space from the Richardson Funeral Home, which had just moved into new facilities on East Main Street, to house the fire truck.  IN May, 1937, town council moved to acquire the present municipal building, with the rear of it to serve as the fire house.  In October of 1938, the Town of Cambria began paying for the rental space for the truck - five dollars a month.  That same year, Christiansburg allocated $450 for operation of the fire department.  The total town budget that year was $39,000.

In an attempt to raise funds during the Great Depression, the department held a Masquerade Ball at the Silver Lake Nite Club, which according to reports, was well attended.  Later, a baseball game was held between the firemen and members of the local American Legion Post with proceeds being divided between the two organizations.  Tickets were sold for twenty-five cents each and refreshments were sold.  According to the Montgomery News Messenger there were no home runs hit, buy "Grayson, Mannoni and Jones hit triples for the fire department..." as the firemen won the game by a score of 12-11.  A little over twenty-seven dollars was raised for each group!

Records show that through the 1930's many calls were received from residents out in the county for the fire department.  On March 1, 1934 the fire department requested Montgomery County, in writing, to purchase "a light fire truck with pump, booster tank and hose for the fighting of fires in this county."  They went on to say that they had been taking the town fire truck "out in the county and this leaves our town helpless in case of fire".  The request was turned down by the Board of Supervisors and on April 12, 1939 a large editorial appeared on the front page of the Montgomery News Messenger urging the county to purchase a fire truck.  By this time, insurance companies has become unwilling to extend their schedule of rates in Christiansburg "if the local fire truck is taken outside the corporation limits, leaving town property unprotected."  The editorial said that the Christiansburg firemen were most willing to answer fire calls in the county and had even taken some equipment and gone out in their automobiles to try to assist at fires.  Christiansburg instructed the firemen to take the fire truck up to one mile outside the town limits, but most of the county was without fire protection until the county government finally bought two 500 GPM 1942 model Ford fire trucks which were delivered in July, 1942.  One of these trucks was placed in service in Christiansburg and the other one in Blacksburg after the fire fighters agreed to "house, man and operate" them at fires in the county as well as in town.

Earlier, in April, 1941, Christiansburg's town council agreed to purchase a second town fire engine.  A Dodge chassis was purchased for $739 and Roanoke Welding and Equipment Co. delivered the truck back to the town in later October, 1941 completely outfitted as a factory-built fire engine with a 500 GPM pump, a 400 gallon water tank and other necessary equipment, all for $3,061.  Total cost of the new fire truck was $3,800.  Today, a new, well equipped pumper costs about $150,000 - $175,000!

With the delivery of this new town truck and a few months later the new county engine, the firemen were again "rooted out" of their headquarters by the equipment.  A committee had been appointed in April, 1936 to look into building a new station, but with the Depression, world events as they were and, finally, World Word II, a new station was long coming.

Until the delivery of the second town fire engine, all firefighting had been done with just the one fire truck.  Now that the department had two trucks they began to engage in training exercises, using both trucks together at fires.  Such was the case one Sunday afternoon in December, 1941 when firemen had taken the trucks on a training session, practicing pumping from the creek with the old truck to supply the new engine with water.  Upon their return to the fire house that afternoon, December 7, they learned that the Japanese had attacked Pearl Harbor.  And so came the second World War and with it changes for the fire department, the town and county, along with the rest of the world.

Immediately the department made preparation for organizing an Auxiliary Fire Department and began special training through the Department of Civil Defense.  Additional officers were selected, civic leaders were appointed to act as emergency telephone operators and drills were held so the department could be ready in the event of an enemy attack.  Firemen went off to war.  The Constitution and By-Laws of the fire department were amended so that a man entering the armed forces was assured that his place in the department would be awaiting him on his return from fighting.  The War Years were hard on fire departments across America.  All the fire fighting equipment manufacturers worked full steam to supply War Effort demands.  Cities and towns had to wait until after the war for equipment.  This department was able to weather the storm well, however, having just received two new fire trucks and equipment.

On February 27, 1942 Christiansburg suffered its most disastrous fire up to that time.  At 1:30 AM that Friday morning fire broke out on the third floor of the Shelton & Walters building located across the Square from the Courthouse in downtown.  Shortly after firemen arrived the entire third floor was a mass of flames, fanned by an icy wind.  It soon became evident that the building was doomed and the fire fighters focused their efforts on saving adjoining buildings and buildings across the street.  Assistance was requested from the Radford Fire Department and they responded very quickly.  Efforts were hampered on every hand.  First, the water supply was running dangerously low and with both of Christiansburg's engines pumping from the town water mains there was not enough pressure for Radford to hook to the system.  Secondly, the temperature was 16° at 3 AM with a high wind.  The firemen were without adequate protective clothing and the fire report said they "...looked like Eskimos after about 15 minutes on the hose."  But, even with all that was against them, they were able to save the surrounding buildings and homes and spent over twenty-four hours at the site in the cold.

Sirens were used in those days to alert the firemen of an emergency.  As time passed, additional sirens were installed over the town and until 1959 they were the only means of summoning the members.  Upon hearing the sirens (which were activated by the local telephone operators, or "central girls" as they were known) the firemen would rush to the station, call the operator and, by using a code number, would be told the location and nature of the fire.  Today the sirens are still used, but only as a back-up system and as an alert to the general public that firefighters will be answering an emergency call.  All firemen now carry pagers with them and keep alerting radios in their homes and businesses and are alerted immediately of fire, regardless of the time and day or where they may be.

Soon after World War II, fire department personnel and others began to dig away the large earthern bank behind the Town Hall to make room for a new fire station.  In 1950 the fire department moved to its new station - a study, two story, five bay building - the present site of the Christiansburg Police Department on East Main Street at Roanoke Street.  Samuel P. Richardson had been elected fire chief in 1936 and he was hired to look after the equipment when the department moved into the new station.  Mr. Richardson continued to serve as chief through 1953 at which time C. Fred Blount was elected fire chief.  He served in that position for 15 years.  In 1978 Mr. Blount, then serving as Assistant Fire Chief and Mayor of Christiansburg, became the first (and to date the only) person to have served fifty years as a member of the Christiansburg Fire Department.  He was honored by the department and presented a gold badge in appreciation of his many years of excellent leadership and unselfish devotion to his department and community.  Fred Blount suffered a fatal heart attack while attending a regular weekly meeting of the fire department in October 1980.  His influence and the influence of dozens of other men who have served their fellowmen through this organization remains strong and will serve as an example for generations of firefighters to come.  We offer thanks to Almighty God for these men; we do not attempt to list them here, but He knows and we know and remember them.

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