Date:  2011

Image Number:  CG130cdCG09

Comments:  Scottsville made a concerted effort to keep the town safe from fires since the beginning of the 1900's.  A bucket brigade formed in 1905, and the town fire hydrants were installed in 1916.  That same year, the volunteer fire fighters raised enough money to buy two fire hose reel carts.  These carts were heavy and cumbersome and had to be pulled by six or eight men.  According to Harold Parr, a Scottsville Fire Chief in the 1940's, "By the time the volunteer firemen pulled those heavy carts up the church street hill (from St. John's Church to the Scottsville Baptist Church), the men were so tired, they didn't have the strength to hold a hose (one of these carts is on prominent display at the Scottsville Museum together with some of the fire buckets; see photo above).  Each cart hooked up to one for Scottsville's fire hydrants, but the water pressure was not sufficient to spray water far enough for most fires.  Most of the fire fighting with these carts concentrated on saving adjacent properties while letting the involved structure burn itself out.

The Scottsville Volunteer Fire Department (SVFD) was officially formed in 1936.  That year the fundraising for a "proper" fire truck began.  Unfortunately, the funds for that truck barely trickled in during those Depression years.  Harold Parr, the fire chief at the time, went from house to house and collected a total of $39.  With the help from some prominent people in town, a fundraising committee formed and collected $800 to purchase a Ford truck chassis.  Barney Philpot spent long volunteer hours designing a water tank for the chassis, and Ranny Moulton, son of John Adkins Moulton and Innes (Harris) Moulton) says, "I was with Roy Hamner when he installed the siren on the new truck.  There were demonstrations of the new truck's abilities with the Bean fog nozzles, which were more effective in extinguishing a fire than the old cart's hose hooked to a plug.  When I was 18, I drove the fire truck a few times, too!" Thus the first equipped Scottsville fire truck was created in 1942; shown below: 

The Scottsville Fire Department moved from the old Victory Theater location on Valley Street to 141 Irish Road across from the Scottsville shopping center.  SVFD serves an area of over 200 square miles and more than 10,000 residents.  The amount of fire calls serviced by SVFD averages over 500 annually, and naturally they would like that count to drop significantly.  In 2011, SVFD has over 40 trained volunteers and a fleet of 11 vehicles, including a hazardous materials containment trailer.

In addition fire protection, the SVFD protects Scottsville from the mighty waters of the James River.  Volunteers regularly inspect the flood water pumps and the levee and advises the Scottsville Town government of anything amiss.  When a flood threatens, SVFD spends hours installing the levee flood gates, diverting traffic, and running the pumps until all threat of flooding has passed.  On another more festive note, SVFD organizes the town's annual Independence Day Parade and the spectacular fireworks in the evening.

The SVFD receives no state or federal funds.  Some funding comes from the County of Albemarle and some grant money is available.  Volunteers run all aspects of SVFD including organizing and executing fundraisers to pay for equipment and supplies.  To support the department, the very active SVFD's Ladies Auxiliary organizes beauty pageants ranging from Tiny Miss Scottsville to Miss Scottsville and Little Mister Firefighter.  An undated newspaper photograph shows a lively dance at a Fireman's Fair where ..."a good part of the town shows up."  Other SVFD fundraising events have included spaghetti dinners, Halloween parties, cake sales, and Santa Claus visits.

On Saturday, Oct. 1, 2010, SVFD held a special 75th anniversary celebration at their firehouse was held.  A man very much involved in the volunteer fire department for most of its 75 years, Mayor Emeritus A. Raymon Thacker, gave the keynote address.

(Thanks to Tim Cersley, and Josh Lindsay, for their time; the Scottsville Museum, and the Scottsville library for the loan of files and information sheets.)

The President requested me to write a brief history of the Scottsville Fire Department.  Now to do justice to the fire department and to its members, it would be nearly impossible to make a history brief.  This organization has been in existence for many years, and through those years, a great many of the community's citizens have been members.  The high, the low, the rich, the poor, the ordinary, and the outstaning have all contributed toward the continued work and success of this department.

To make a just appraisal of the accomplishments of this department would of necessity require the reading of the names of the department members through the years. 

Beginning back as far as we have records which is 1939, the following have been members from time to time:

W.A. Dawson, Jr.      Van Johnson           John Gunther            A.R. Thacker

H.H. Parr                    James E. Steger    Andrew J. Collins     T.N. Coleman

John Williamson        F.A. Cole                Thomas Mawyer       Lee Wharam

R.E. Brill                     Robert L. Bryan      Stewart Townsend    Walter Allen

J.L. Pearce                Rev. John Elliott     Tyler T. Robertson     David Lee McGuire

Waverly Butler           Guy E. Moon           J.O. Wilson                Walter Woodson

J.A. Moulton              John Pippin             Austin Easton            K.A. Spencer

William R. Staton      W.L. Davidson       M.B. Jones                Gordon Rutland

Samuel Robertson    Sherman Parr        T.A. Allison               Julian Morris

G.T. Omohundro, Jr.  Norman Ormsby    R.S. Moore              Gordon Moore

Norman Wilkerson    James Ripley         W.G. Mason      Rev. Mack Thomasson

Thomas E. Bruce,Jr. Lawrence Profitt     Milton Cohen           Lewis W. Rhodes

G.C. Golladay, Sr.    Joe Hughes             A.P. McKenry           T.D. Daniel

Vincent T. Rickman   Dr. W.E. Moody     R.C. Hamner            Sylvester Payne

Charlie Saunders      Elmer Johnson       C.S. Butler                Irving Pippin

Leslie Harrison          R.W. Coleman       George Dennis         F.E. Paulett

Leslie L. American    F.R. Henderson     W.C. Duncan         Thomas Harrison

Mintrey Napier           Herman Napier      Tom Boggs              Albert Kent

J.H. Duncan               B.L. Philpot             A.W. Mayo             Cary James Thacker

F.A. Branham            F.F. Marsh              J.C. Harmon          James E. Mayo

Eugene N. Johnson  William Napier      Walker K. Oslin       C. Blair Moon

H.D. Thacker             Kyle Allen               J.H. PHillips            Nat H. Reasor

G.C. Lanahan            Frank Staton         Jack Miller               William Melton

George E. Morris      W.R. Pitts              M.C. Piel                 Charlie Hudson

Russell McGuire        P.E. Thomas         Fred Jones              F.R. Moon, Jr.

C. Ralston Moore      David Easton       Charlie Bryant          Edward Moody

Charlie Lenahan        Ted Childress       Pete O'Field           Jack Leagon

Dr. Percy Harris      Grover Mowbray   Ranny Moulton   Harold R. Stephenson

James E. Taylor        Walker Gilmer       Billy Waldren          S.W. Townsend, Jr.

Herbert Wharam        Dr. R.L. King         Robert Brown         G.C. Golladay, Jr.

Donald R. Childress  John Deeds          Winston Higgins     Herman Johnson

Ambrose Payne        Roger Haislip        D. Allen Baird         Maynard Stinson

W.R. Moore, Jr.         H.R. Nicholas