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On June 8, 1922, the
Sacramento County Board of Supervisors approved a request by the registered
voters of the Howard Kinney and Nye School Districts to appoint a board of
fire commissioners for the unincorporated area known as Mills, approximately
55 square miles in area. The Mills Fire Department covered an area roughly
along the American River on the north and extended 10.6 miles on Folsom
Boulevard to where Alder Creek crosses it. The eastern boundary snaked south
along a line east of Grant Line Road. The south boundary was along Old
Mather Field Road and across Jackson Road to an area just west of Mayhew
Road, which was the western boundary. This area contained the communities of
Alder Creek, Salisburg, Citrus, Mather Field, Mills, Routiers and Mayhew. It
also included all of the Douglas property and most of Aerojet. This area was
larger than the combined areas of the American River, Arden, Arcade,
Carmichael, North Sacramento and Hagginwood Fire Districts.
The first fire
commissioners were J. P. Yost, F. W. Bush and a Mr. Mason. The first known
fire station location was on the A. F. Bryan Ranch, which was located east
of Mills.
The first Fire Chief, A.
F. Bryan, was named on November 25, 1938.
The first fire death
reported in the board minutes was on December 14, 1940. A fire destroyed the
Alder Creek Service Station, two cabins and a garage. An elderly lady lost
her life in one of the cabins.
On May 21, 1941, an aid
agreement was signed with the Mather Field Army Post for fire protection
until they received their own equipment.
The original budget for
the Mills Fire Department was in the $3,000 range.
The first paid Fire Chief
was Charles Liss. His pay was $350 a month, beginning in July 1951.
By the mid 50’s, the
Department consisted of local farmers with two pieces of fire equipment that
were in poor shape. The fire station was a corrugated metal building on
Folsom Boulevard, located across from Mills Station. This fire station was
built with permission from Southern Pacific Railroad on their right-of-way.
In 1954, temporary
quarters were leased on Routier Road, 400 feet south of Folsom Boulevard.
This temporary station was completed by June 18, 1954. It had a shop,
sleeping quarters, offices, kitchen, dining space, hose drying facilities,
and a 7-horsepower siren installed on the roof. Two older fire apparatus
were overhauled and a fifth vehicle, an engine with a high-pressure pump,
was delivered. The first volunteer drill was held on the night of June 18,
1954. By the end of June 1954, the Department’s strength was 20 volunteer
firefighters.
The Pacific Board of Fire
Underwriters recommended that two paid firemen and a relief man be added to
the Department, along with additional hose, nozzles, and other equipment.
They also recommended that a new fire station be built on the north side of
Folsom Boulevard near Aramon Drive.
The firefighters worked a
two-platoon system with shifts running from 6:00 P.M. to 6:00 A.M. and 6:00
A.M. to 6:00 P.M. Radio equipment was installed for a base station, four
engines and the chief’s vehicle. The Mills Fire Department also signed
mutual aid agreements with all the departments in the area. In August 1954,
the Mills Fireman’s Association was formed.
In June 1955, the
Department contacted Roland S. Federspiel about the property that he owned
on Folsom Boulevard. He sold the 200’ by 110’ lot to the Department for $1.
The building construction began on July 30, 1956, and was completed on
October 19, 1956. From start to finish the project was under two sets of
fire commissioners. This is why the plaque on the wall of Station 61 at
10595 Folsom Boulevard reads 1955-1957.
From June 1954 until
October 1956 the volunteers were partly recruited from GI personnel living
behind the firehouse in the trailer court on Routier Road. This made for a
very unstable number of volunteers because the airmen could be transferred
out of Mather at any time. Since that time, most of the volunteers came from
homeowners living within a half mile of the fire station.
There was a lot of
building activity going on in the Mills area at the time and the Board of
Underwriters requested the Department purchase another pumper and a small
pickup with some firefighting capability for a chief officer.
From June 5, 1954, until
June 10, 1957, the Department answered 312 alarms. The assets for the Mills
Fire Department were: lot, $20,000; building, $40,000; apparatus, $40,000.
On November 2, 1958, the
Mills Fire Department was renamed the Rancho Cordova Fire District, which
was more descriptive of the area the District served. The area was 87.5
square miles with boundaries of the American River on the north, Kiefer
Boulevard and Douglas Road on the south, Watt Avenue on the west and the
Sacramento/El Dorado County line on the east.
In the spring of 1963, a
second fire station was built at 3646 Bradshaw Road (Station 62). A shop was
added at the rear of the property in 1968/69. The site was purchased for
$5,000. Sites considered for this new station were at Old Placerville and
Bradshaw Road (just north of the present location) and Draco Drive near
Lincoln Village Drive.
In 1964, Aerojet General
Corporation donated property to build a third fire station, located at 12395
Folsom Boulevard (Station 63).
In 1966, a site for
another fire station was being sought. The original plan was on Coloma Road
and Citrus Road (across from the present location of Station 65). The
station ended up being placed in the middle of a new housing development and
was to look like one of the homes, except for the garage door being enlarged
to accommodate a fire engine. This fourth station was located at 9116
Vancouver Drive (Station 64).
On February 1, 1968, the
Fire District changed to a 3-platoon system working 24-hour shifts. The
schedule was 24 hours on duty and 48 hours off duty. There were also five
vacation days a year and sick leave accrual of one day per month.
In 1981/82, Fire Station
65 was built at 11201 Coloma Road.
In 1989, Station 66 was
constructed at 3180 Kilgore Road. This was to cover the expanding new
construction in the southeast area of the now 97 square mile district.
With increasingly tighter
budgets and a retiring fire chief from the Citrus Heights Fire Protection
District, the two districts merged on July 1, 1989 to form the Sacramento
County Fire Protection District.
Fire Chiefs for the Mills and Rancho
Cordova Fire Districts:
A. F. Bryan – 1938 to
1948
Charles Liss – 1948 to
1954
Floyd Gray – 1954 to 1957
James Gore – 1957 to 1958
Elmer McBeath – 1958 to
1979
Robert Lerch – 1979 to
1988
Michael Dacy – 1988 to
the Sac County merge and beyond.
Major Incidents
March 2, 1966: A boiler
explosion at the Cordova Lodge ( a two story motel and restaurant complex)
on Folsom Boulevard, killed two kitchen employees and injured seven others.
There was no fire, but it took some time to shore up the remainder of the
kitchen area before a search could be conducted to locate the victims. The
north and west portions of the kitchen and boiler area were destroyed, and
the building behind the Lodge suffered blown out windows and walls riddled
with holes from glass and building parts. Estimated damage to this building
was $20,000. Three cars were severely damaged and two cars were badly
damaged. A large valve assembly weighing 100-120 pounds was found, partially
buried in a lawn about 100 yards north of the explosion area. A 25’ x 20’
section of the roof was resting on a transformer platform just north of the
kitchen area.
US 50 Scaffolding Collapse
August 24, 1972, at
approximately 7:30 p.m., one person died and nine persons were injured when
workmen were removing the false work used to support the concrete overpass
of US 50 at La Riviera Drive and Folsom Boulevard. The collapse buried a
truck and three cars. It took fire personnel several hours to remove the
trapped people from the cars that were caught in the collapse.
Trench Rescue
July 25, 1984, at 7:27
a.m., a trench cave-in on Bradshaw Road, just across the street from
Station 62, buried two employees of a construction company. The workers were
in a trench that was 15-20 feet deep and the workers were buried at least
12-18 inches over their heads with rocks and dirt. Captain Dave Elder from
the Sacramento Fire Department and Captain Larry McBride from the Citrus
Heights Fire Protection District were summoned for assistance, along with
shoring material and equipment from different agencies and a medical team
from UC Davis Medical Center. It took over two hours to rescue and remove
the two workers from the trench. The workers had no major injuries.
Written by Engineer Robert Werner |
