Minot Fire Department Information Page
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Minot Fire Department Profile
Our department is made up of 50 hard working men and women. Three battalions of 11 firefighters, three Lieutenants and a battalion chief. One Fire Marshall, one full time inspector, a fire mechanic, the department secretary and our Chief, CJ Craven.
The MFD provides a community of 35,000 with full time Fire/rescue, medical, ARFF and Hazardous Materials (Hazmat) protection. Our rescue squad also protects a radius of 40 miles with Emergency Medical Services, auto extrication, high angle rescue, water/ice rescue with PADI trained divers and confined space rescue. We also perform many non emergency services such as hydrant flushing, carbon monoxide checks, installing smoke detectors, public education/school talks and various fund raising and charitable events throughout the year.
History of the Minot Fire Department
The early history of the department is quite vague due to lack of records. Some of the early dates may not be exact but they are all very close. Much of the early information comes from the very good memories of past chiefs Gil Malek and Claude Metz.
The City of Minot's first fire company was organized September 13, 1895. It is unknown where the fire wagon was hosed at the beginning. It was a volunteer company with firefighters paid by the call. Also paid was the team of horses that pulled the wagon. Competition was very serious. You got your horses there first to pull the wagon then you got the pay.
In 1905 city hall was built in the 100 block of First Ave SW. The fire department responded from this location for over 50 years.
The first records start to show up in 1908. By then the fire department had its own fire horses and two paid people. The two paid people included the fire chief and the driver. The chief was paid $30.00 per month and the driver was paid $75.00 per month. The chief worked normal hours but the driver lived with and cared for these horses 24 hours every day. The fuel bill was about $20.00 per month, $5.00 for hay plus $15.00 for feed.
The year 1913 was an important one to the Minot Fire Department. A call went out for bids for a motor driven fire apparatus on May 26, 1913. On July 14, 1913 the city council moved that Minot order, 'quote' one motor propelled, six cylinder, water cooled, combination hose and chemical wagon with Goodyear hard rubber tires from the Seagraves Company. This truck was delivered to Minot, November 15, 1913, at a cost of $5,640.12 plus $212.88 for freight to the Soo Line Railroad. Then on Thanksgiving Day 1913, the horses were retired from the fire department.
In 1927 paid personnel went from 4 to 5 with addition of one firefighter. In 1931 the Minot Fire Department became a full paid department.
In 1942 horses were used again for a short while. The snow was too deep for trucks to maneuver, so horses were rented and a sleigh was outfitted as a firewagon.
On January 28, 1957 the fire department moved into new quarters, leaving the First Ave location that had housed the department for 52 years and moved into the new station on the corner of 6th street and 2nd Ave. In 2001, the Headquarters station was moved to 2111 10th St SW to improve response times to rapidly growing south Minot.
In 1958 the firefighters hours were cut from 72 hour work week to 63 hours per week.
January 11, 1965 the department opened its first sub-station, named Station #2. This station is located at 3rd street and 2nd Ave SE.
On November 1, 1980 the department opened its second sub-station, named Station #3, at the city airport.
Current Events
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