In 1954 Mr. Bill Harvell of Chuckatuck saw a need for the organization of a volunteer fire department in the community. The area was currently being served by both the Smithfield Volunteer Fire Department or the City of Suffolk Fire Department. Mr. Harvell went to speak with Mr. J R Kirk to ask his assistance in organizing a fire department. In February of that year, approximately fifty men met at the Chuckatuck High School cafeteria in pursuit of that goal. There were many issues to be settled (the purchase of land, equipment, the construction of a fire station and training of the new members).

After the initial meeting Mr. J R Kirk approached the Chuckatuck Ruritan Club and suggested they support the efforts of this group. The Ruritan Club President, Mr. Richard Davis, appointed Mr. Kirk to be the chairman of a committee to assist in the organization of the fire department. The Ruritan Club sponsored an auction sale and raised approximately $1,700 of the $19,000 needed to start the department.

Mr. Kirk and Mr. Davis traveled to Langley Field several times to look at government surplus fire engines. A sealed bid was submitted on three trucks and they were awarded one engine, a 1942 Maxim. Mr. J R Kirk and Mr. Stokes Kirk financed the purchase of this engine.

On January 5th 1955 the Chuckatuck Volunteer Fire Department met in a called meeting and the first roll of the new organization was recorded. At this meeting Mr. J R Kirk was elected President and Mr. Al Saunders was elected as the first Chief of the Chuckatuck Volunteer Fire Department. The group decided to purchase a site centrally located in the community to build the fire station. The land was purchased from the Eley's which gave good access to the area the department would serve. Until a new station could be constructed the engine was kept at N H Byrds garage. The truck was later moved to F A Spadys garage which became Ronnie Kellys cabinet shop. In August of 1955 the construction of the new two story firehouse was almost complete.

Until the construction of the station was complete all fire were reported to Chief Al Saunders home. His wife, Mrs. Georgia Saunders, would then call 3 firefighters and their wives would continue the process. After completion of the fire station an alarm was placed on top of the building. A phone was placed at Saunders Supply Company to receive daytime alarms and at Whites Television Shop for nighttime fires. When the alarm was received, either Saunders Supply or Mrs. White would turn a crank which activated the alarm on the station. They would then call the firehouse and let the phone ring until the first fireman arrived at the station. Mrs. N H Byrd later took over the duties of answering the nighttime alarms, a responsibility she held for many years.

The department continued to grow during the next years. Mr. Al Saunders continued to serve as Chief until 1963 when John Kelly was elected to take Mr. Saunders place. During the same year the department purchased a new fire engine. The department worked hard to raise funds to purchase firefighting equipment. Over the years many fish fry's ladies night dances and fund drives have been held, all of these activities are still done today. In 1969 another new pumper was purchased at a price of $27,000. Both of these trucks remained in service with our department until 1990 when the department purchased a new pumper, brush truck, and a used tanker from the City of Va. Beach. They are currently in service with a fire department in Tennessee.

The department continued to grow throughout the 70's and 80's. There were many memorable fires and other emergencies that were handled. Fire departments, especially volunteer departments, don't just put out fires we are here to help our community. An example of this was in June of 1973 when 39 families in the Hobson area lost their domestic water supply. The fire department carried water twice a day to each of these residents until their water was restored. In 1986 Jerry Saunders was elected as the departments third fire chief. Jerry joined the department in 1954.

Due to the increasing call volume the rescue squads were facing and the distance to many of the locations they had to respond to, this same mindset led the Chuckatuck Volunteer Fire Department to begin to first respond to life threatening medical calls in 1993. We are able to provide life saving care to our community at a fraction of the time it would take an ambulance to respond. Many of our members have various levels of medical training from the EMT-Basic level through Paramedic. We have recently purchased two new automatic external defibrillators, through community support, which allows us to provide immediate care in the event of cardiac arrest. These units replaced two used defibrillators that were donated to the department when we first began EMS first response. All full complement of medical equipment is carried on both of the departments pumpers.

Many years ago firefighters received their training from monthly drills at the station and from gaining knowledge on calls. We now require all of our incoming members to obtain a minimum of Va. Department of Fire Programs Firefighter I within one years of joining. This entails approximately 80 hours of instruction in fire attack, salvage, hazardous materials awareness, CPR, etc. This is only the beginning. There are classes for our apparatus drivers such as Emergency Vehicle Operators Course and Driver Operator, classes for our instructors and leadership classes for Fire Officers. This can be a time consuming task, but we do this to provide the best service we can to our community.

In the early 1990's Charles Rose was serving as president of the department. He formed a committee to look into the feasibility of building a new fire station, we had simply out grown the old building. The trucks were larger and there was no room for storage in current station. Many hours were spent working on the plans and construction. The land was acquired from the City of Suffolk. We visited many local fire stations to finalize our plans. We sold our old fire station and moved to the current facility in1998. Our department was to pay for half of the construction cost while the city funded the remainder, this is quite an undertaking for a small volunteer fire department. We received support from many organizations including the Chuckatuck Ruritan Club which made it possible to completely pay off our portion of the note.

We recently recieved our new 2004 American LeFrance Eagle pumper which now serves the community of Chuckatuck as Engine 9. Our 1990 E-ONE Hurricane serves as Engine 29 replacing our 1979 pumper. The '79 Ford/Howe pumper served the community with excellence for many years, but for the same reasons as our 1977 Tanker's dimissal, it is now out of service.

In January of 2003 Greg Parsons was elected as Fire Chief, this making only the fourth Chief in 50 years. This stability along with the fact that we have several active member with 40+ years coupled with a strong group of younger members allows us to offer a service to our community that everyone can be proud of. We are still all volunteer all the time, since 1954.

Here's to 50 years!