Gerton Volunteer Fire Department and Rescue, Inc. was founded in 1974 out of a need for fire protection for the Gerton community. This need was recognized after a member of the community lost his home to a devastating fire. Fire departments from Buncombe and Rutherford counties responded and stopped at the county lines and watch the house burn.  Eventually fire departments from within Henderson County did arrive to extinguish the remains of the home.  The residents of the Gerton community met and with the creativeness and donations from many of them the Gerton Fire Department was born. We built a homemade brush truck from a 1972 Ford truck. We then were able to get a 1941 Seagraves pumper donated from Orangeburg, SC. With the donation of turnout gear from some fire departments we were able to achieve our status as a recognized fire department. The Upper Hickory Nut Gorge Community Center donated us space to house our trucks. At that time we were able to start receiving tax funds to operate on.

            We now have a new station with very good equipment. All of our members have their own individual turnout gear. Our oldest truck is a 1979 tanker and our newest is a 2003 Brush truck. We have a 4 wheel drive certified ambulance. We have a 2001 Pierce as our first out engine along with a 1986 Ford pumper-tanker as a second out engine. We also have a 1998 E-one mini-pumper for the tight narrow driveways and rough road conditions we may encounter.  We have some specialized rescue equipment, such as the Jaws of Life and High Angle rescue equipment all carried by a heavy rescue truck.  We have just completed our Department of Insurance rating program and we are now a class 6. We have added on to our current station and eventually plan to build a new training building with bays across the street at our old location to house our reserve equipment.

We now have 20 active firefighters and 1 junior firefighter on our roster. We average 16 members on any given call or training event. The community is very excited and supporting us with comments of praise

Gerton Fire & Rescue has been supported by the Gerton community since its inception.

Many community members have given of their time and money to make the department what it is today.

LINKS

Training Calendar