On June 15, 1953 six town residents met with Brevard County’s local fire commissioner to discuss the possibility of forming a volunteer fire department. At a second meeting on June 17th, the Melbourne Beach Volunteer Fire Department was formed. On June 22, the original six members decided to change the department’s name to the Beach Volunteer Fire Control District. The Department was formally incorporated in January 1954.
The Department’s first vehicle was an Army surplus truck that had been converted to a brush truck. It was provided by Brevard county in August 1953. The first two bays of the fire station were built in 1954 on the site of an old tennis and shuffleboard court. This first station was built with the labor of the volunteer firefighters and funded by donations. Before the station had been constructed, the truck was usually parked outside the home of Paul Earlebach, the Department’s first Fire Chief.
During the early days of the Beach Volunteer Fire Department, firefighting was a very basic affair. Emergency calls were telephoned to a member’s house. That member would then pick up the truck and drive to the homes of other members, sounding the siren as he pulled up the driveway. These members were not provided with any protective clothing and had to fight fire in their everyday street clothes.
The Beach Volunteer Fire Department answered fire alarms both on the beach and on the mainland. In 1958, the Department’s members voted to leave the Brevard County Fire Control District and devote its primary attention to the growing Town. The Department’s name was also changed back to the original Melbourne Beach Volunteer Fire Department. The original brush truck was replaced with the Department’s first real fire engine, a 1969 Jaco.
Advances have been made throughout the years with regard to vehicles and other safety equipment. The fire station was added onto over the years to accommodate the growing department and larger Class A pumpers in the fleet. Labor was again provided by the volunteer firefighters. In 1995, the Department’s mission was expanded when the Marine Rescue Unit was formed.
2003 was a banner year as the Department marked its 50th Anniversary. On March 1st, past and present members of the fire department attending a “Building Benediction” Ceremony just prior to the 49 year old station being demolished to make way for the new municipal facilities. The Fire Department sign and American flag were carried over to temporary quarters in the bays of the new Public Works building by founding members Bob Wood and Ken Swentzel. In December 2003, the Town Commission officially approved the lease purchase of a new Pierce Class A Pumper. Also, notification was received that the FEMA Fire Act Grant application, written by the volunteers, was funded. This grant brought in over $100,000 for the purchase of vital equipment for Fire Operations and Firefighter Safety.
After a difficult year of transition, the volunteers moved all the equipment and furnishings from temporary quarters scattered throughout the municipal site into the new fire station in March 2004. The new fire truck was delivered in the summer of 2004. In September 2004, amidst the chaos of two major hurricanes directly impacting the Town, notification was received that the Melbourne Beach Volunteer Fire Department would again be the recipient of grant funding for new radios and fire hose.
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