Founded by apple farmers

The Greenwich Fire Department was founded in 1933 by a group of local apple farmers who recognized there was a need for fire protection for their warehouses.

Randy Schofield, a former chief, said that directly across Highway 358 from where West Nova Fuels is now located was a structure built into the hillside. This was the first Greenwich fire station.

Schofield said one of the fire engines housed there was a 1944 Ford that is still sitting in the yard of the late Bernie Smith, a former chief of the department. Smith was working to restore the truck before he passed away.

Schofield said the station there lasted 30 years. In 1963, the Pulsifer family donated a piece of land for the department to build a new two-bay fire station at its current site.

Schofield said a two-bay station with coats hanging on the wall was all it was. There wasn't even have a radio room or meeting room.

During the 1970s, the decision was made to build a second storey. Schofield said nine firefighters got together and signed promissory notes, putting their own homes up as collateral to finance the project.

In 1999, the station expanded again with the addition of an accessible hall at ground-level to the rear of the building. Although there was government funding, a third of the cost was covered through firefighter fundraising efforts.

Schofield said the Greenwich fire district was once larger than it is now. The western boundary is now the centre line of the Deep Hollow Road, the border of New Minas and Greenwich. The district used to extend further to the west, the access road to the KenWo Golf Club.