This Sunday, May 18, Abingdon Volunteer Fire and Rescue will celebrate 75 years of service. To thank the community for all of its support over the years, AVFR will be hosting an open house celebration at Station 2 from 2 to 4 p.m. Sunday. The community is welcome and encouraged to come out to help celebrate.
In honor of 75 years, three of AVFR’s members—Gordon Williams, a former Fire President, Jack Whitmore, a former Fire Vice President, and current Fire Vice President Alec Parlett—sat down to reminisce on the rich history of AVFR.
Right after WWII, Williams explained, there was no fire department in the immediate area; some of the men that had returned from WWII saw the need and started taking up a collection to purchase a fire truck. It took several years, but a vehicle was purchased in 1952, a Studebaker with an added pump and water tank, kept in an old wooden garage that it just barely fit into.
According to AVFR records, the organization’s first meeting was held on May 13, 1950, ...