Evergreen’s fire department has grown exponentially since it started in 1948.

With more stations, more female firefighters, more technology and a busy emergency medical service that merged with the fire department in 1986, Evergreen Fire/Rescue of 2023 outwardly doesn’t appear to have much in common with its roots.

But it does.

After 75 years, firefighters from all years are bound together in the brotherhood and sisterhood of service to the community. It doesn’t matter when you were part of the department, you are still family.

Evergreen Fire/Rescue celebrated its diamond jubilee with a barbecue for firefighters past and present over Memorial Day weekend, with veteran volunteers greeting friends old and new, and telling stories about their time as first responders serving the community.

For current Fire Chief Mike Weege, who went through firefighter training in 2001 and has been with EFR his entire firefighting career, the barbecue was a chance to reconnect with retired firefighters. He said getting involved with EFR in the early 2000s allowed him to get to know some of the founding members and subsequent generations of volunteers.

Evergreen Fire/Rescue is writing a book on the 75 years of history that will be available for purchase later this year.

A strong start

Forty-six men signed the charter to create the Evergreen Volunteer Fire Department. They chipped in money to buy equipment, and they got together to build the first fire station in downtown Evergreen.

The names are a who’s who of Evergreen old-timers: Alderfer, Ault, Anderson, Griebling, Olde, Rouse, Teske, Snowbarger, Renshaw and more. More about that history can be found on the Evergreen Fire/Rescue website.

In the first page of the handwritten minutes of the Evergreen Volunteer Fire Department dated Oct. 4, 1948, Jack Rouse wrote: “Between these covers are written the words and deeds of a few, the glory of fewer and the fame of none. In no other organization can these few do so much for so many. May God give them the courage and fortitude to meet this challenge, their heritage.”

The 1960s

For Lloyd See and his wife Carrol Crosson See, Evergreen Fire/Rescue was a way of life. Carrol called herself a “firefighter brat” since her dad, Melvin “Swede” Crosson, was with the department for a long time.

After Lloyd and Carrol married, Swede knocked on their door one night. Lloyd thought he and Swede were going to a bar; instead, they were going to Station 1 so Lloyd could join EFR.

“My dad always said if you live in Evergreen, you have to be a firefighter," Carrol said.

Marilyn Sandifer, whose husband Bill was a firefighter from 1965 to 1985, attended the barbecue. She said the first time she was alone with Bill – not a date, she noted – Bill stopped at the fire station, and he let her sit in a firetruck. “It was a stepping stone” to their long marriage, she said.

The 1970s

The retirees talked about the hose cart races in the 1970s, and how Evergreen was the state champion three years in a row, beating other volunteer fire departments. A trophy and photos of the team in action are on display in a cabinet in the entry way to the Administration Building.

Pete Anderson, who served on the department from 1977 to 2007 and is writing the EFR history book, said no calls stand out as he looks back on his 30 years. He explained that some calls were heartbreaking since first responders tend to see people on their worst day.

The best part, he added, was working with really good people and doing a good job, noting that “there’s nothing more exciting that running into a burning building.”

Anderson’s father and uncle were charter members of the department.

Rhoda Schleicher, who was among the first women in the department, joined in 1979, and while some of the older firefighters gave her grief for joining, they realized she was the perfect size to get into attics and crawl spaces, places others couldn’t get into.

“I refused to make coffee,” she said.

She noted that the teamwork among the firefighters was the department’s greatest asset.

“The fact that we came from all over the place, and we worked together to put out a fire made it special,” she said. “Training was fun, and I made friends. It was a challenge, but the challenge was fun.”

The 1980s

Joe Stein, who served from 1985 to 2006, said innovation was necessary in those days, noting that the firefighters worked hard but had a good time, too. One of his favorite memories was training to be on the rappelling team for helicopter responses, saying he still had the harness he wore for those missions.

Stein recently rejoined the department as part of the retired reserve as a tender truck driver. He said the first time he came to grab a truck, other, younger firefighters wondered who he was, and they welcomed him like a brother once they learned his new role with the department.

George Merchant, who served from 1979 to 1999, said he remembered going from just boots and a jacket to full firefighting bunker gear during his tenure with the department.

Dick Merkel, who served from 1972 to 1982, recalled the huge amount of work to combine the fire department with the separate ambulance service. He said firefighters responded to calls and waited for the emergency medical personnel to arrive. It made sense, he said, to combine the two services.

“We went from providing first aid to an EMT program,” he said. “It was memorable to get the rescue unit going.”

His wife, Judy, was especially grateful for the combined department because Dick was hit by a drunken driver in 1989, and “they saved his life because of the program he started.”

Dispatching

Schleicher, who left firefighting and became a dispatcher with Rose Smith in the late 1970s and 1980s, said it was vastly different than the current Jeffcom high-tech dispatch center. Five women worked from their homes, and since most had young children, they helped each other, making sure that someone was available to take calls and dispatch first responders 24/7.

Schleicher says she still has nightmares that the phones are unattended when calls come in.

The dispatchers helped each other out when one needed to leave the house to take out the trash, do something with the children or take time to vacuum the carpets.

In those days, GPS didn’t exist, so the dispatchers had maps available to figure out where the emergency was and provide directions to responders.

The 2000s to present day

The early 2000s, Weege noted, were a time of huge growth for the department, which went from four fire stations to its current eight, plus the construction of the Administration Building on Bergen Parkway.

“We doubled the size of the apparatus and the buildings,” he said. “That was a big change.”

He is proud that Evergreen Fire/Rescue grew along with Evergreen.

“We’re proud of our history, those who came before us and had the foresight to start the department, recognize the growth of Evergreen and the need to expand,” Weege said. “They had a willingness to change over the years. The department’s forefathers recognized the growth and need to provide a level of service this community expects.”

While the volunteers are the core of fire operations in the department, Weege said, the department has expanded into fire prevention and most recently the wildland group.

Mike Gregory, who served with EFR from 2002 to 2014, then was elected to the fire department’s board of directors, said joining the department was the best thing he ever did.

“I had 80 immediate friends when I joined, and I still have those friends," he said.