The Whitefield Volunteer Fire Department is made up of men and women who desire to serve their community to the fullest extent.  Today’s members are just a part of the history of the Whitefield Volunteer Fire Department.

In 1969, several Whitefield community members started turning the wheels on getting everything going for a volunteer fire department.  The first community meeting was conducted by Anderson County Fire Marshal James Hall and community member Hugh Durham at Whitefield Baptist Church.  At that meeting, community members elected the first board of directors for the department. 

After this meeting, subsequent meetings were held at George Wilson’s Service Station and the search for land to build the new fire department on began. Meanwhile, the Anderson County Fire Protection Commission placed an order for a new fire truck to serve the new Whitefield fire district. Mr. and Mrs. Elmer Evans donated a one-acre tract located on the McConnell Estate, the present site of the Whitefield Volunteer Fire Department.

The Ladies Auxiliary was established in order to help with fundraisers.  Ladies Auxiliary members played a vital role in establishing the department and in helping raise money to pay off the station’s loan. The first fundraiser was a hotdog sale, held at H.I. Taylor’s Auction.  All the members of the fire department came together and had chicken and hot dog supper sales every month for six years until the fire department had paid off the bank loans.  The Ladies Auxiliary also helped to raise funds to purchase additional trucks including  a tanker truck that would shuttle water and a grass truck that would be able go off-road and other places that the bigger trucks couldn’t go.   

Amongst all of this hard work, the firemen spent over three months training to serve the community.  Upon completion, the first officers of the department were elected. Harrison Ellison was elected Chief in 1971 when the Whitefield Volunteer Fire Department went into full service.

Fire Chiefs of the Whitefield Volunteer Fire Department

1971-1986 – 16 Years
Chief Harrison Ellison
827 Alarms

1987-1989 – 3 Years
Chief Don Ford
247 Alarms

1990-2008 – 18 Years
Chief Jimmy Ellison
1703 Alarms

2009-2011 – 3 Years
Chief Paul Drake
?? Alarms

2012-2016 – 4 Years
Chief Adam Cromer
994 Alarms

2017-20?? –  ? Years
Chief Paul Drake
?? Alarms

20??-Present
Chief Billy Guin

Fifty years later, Whitefield Volunteer Fire Department continues to grow.  We have expanded to six trucks, and added two bays in order to house additional equipment. 

The Whitefield Fire Department is always looking for community members who are willing to go that extra mile in order to serve their community.  If interested, check out the forms page of our website and drop a completed application off by our station at 7:00 PM on the 1st or 3rd Tuesday of each month.