The town of Oak Island, then called Long Beach, developed the fire department in 1962 after it was determined that citizens could no longer afford to wait for fire fighting equipment to come all the way from Southport.
In 1964, the town formed a committee to work out the details of designing and building a fire station to house apparatus and equipment. Land was donated at the corner of Ocean Highway and Scotland Avenue (Oak Island Drive and E. 40th Street). Construction began in December of 1964 with the fire department moving into it's new home in October of 1966.
On November 18, 1967, the Long Beach Volunteer Fire Department became the Long Beach, N.C. Volunteer Fire Department and Rescue Squad. Long Beach also entered into it's first mutual aid agreements with the towns of Southport, Yaupon Beach, and Caswell Beach during this time.
In January 1973, it was decided that the fire department and rescue squad should operate independently of each other. The rescue squad became a separate entity with the adoption of it's charter on April 19, 1973.
The debate as to whether the two departments were town agency's began in June 1991. After some debate, it was determined that the fire department funds would be kept by the town in a dedicated account marked "Fire Department Restricted Account". On May 19, 1992, revised by-laws were approved by the town council for the fire department incuding this information.
More history to come. Stay tuned.
