The History of the Lindale VFD dates back to the early 1940's. The first fire truck, purchased after World War II, was a 1946 Ford Pumper with a 200 gallon tank. This truck was in full service until the mid 1980's, and is currently being restored to its original condition.
Originally, the Police Station, Fire Station, and City Hall all shared the same building in downtown. The building sat on the corner of S. Main and later became a Gas station. Our first fire chief was the late Frank Edwards. Chief Edwards was known for his close calls with catching his wooden leg on fire.
Early on, when the fire phone rang, whoever was close by would go by the station, get the truck, and drive around the square. Townsmen who were available would jump on the truck.
3/4 of the volunteers were issued fire boots and a helmet, everything else you wore was up to you. Before 911, the night watchmen would walk the town and report any problems.
If the town horn blew once, that meant a grass or car fire. If the horn blew twice, that meant a house fire.
Lindale was the 1st department in Smith County to get voice pagers, which replaced the old fire phone and horn systems.
Lindale VFD's 1st air packs were used in 1975. In Early 2004 Hide-A-Way Lake VFD disbanded, and It’s few remaining members, as well as it’s equipment, became part of Lindale VFD.
Lindale Station 2 was opened in 2005 to serve the communities of Hide-A-way Lake, Garden valley, Carroll, part of Swan, and I-20 up to Harvey Road. Station 2 was dedicated on January 29, 2006, in appreciation of the work and dedication of Annie Bell Baldwin, of the Smith County Fire Board.
In July of 2008, the long awaited Station 3 was opened to serve the Swan area and to better serve Tyler Pipe Industries. Today, Lindale Fire Department is incredibly high tech with state of the art apparatus and top of the line fire gear, air packs, voice amps and high band radios.
We have many members that are full time firefighters at departments including Tyler, Longview, Irving and Dallas, as well as a few others which have their certification with Texas Commission on Fire Protection & State Firemen & Fire Marshall Association.
LVFD
Historical Pictures FIRE PREVENTION TEAM
Lindale Fire Department has one of the newest and most comprehensive Fire Prevention programs available. utilizing this program, Lindale Firefighters are able to convey fire safety to a variety of school audiances!
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