110 Lewis Street North Pole, Alaska 99705 Keepin' it RED since 1957
North Pole Fire Department was established in 1957. Unfortunately, no official records were kept until about 1975. The original fire station was located at the corner of 5th Avenue and Snowman Lane. At that time, the fire department shared quarters with North Pole City Hall and the North Pole Police. In 1975, NPFD began providing ambulance service to the community. The ambulance was staffed by Carleta Lewis and other volunteer EMT's and maintained by the full-time firefighters. In 1976, NPFD had three paid firefighters and a public safety officer. These three firefighters covered the station working twenty-four hour shifts with forty-eight hours off.
By the spring of 1977, the city of North Pole dropped its public safety office position and hired its first Fire Chief, Bob Fuller. Chief Fuller started a large successful volunteer and junior firefighter program. In February 1978, all NPFD firefighters attended their first EMT class. After becoming EMT's the firefighters began assuming ambulance responsibilities alongside the volunteers. Later, a new Chief, Jesse McGraw replaced Bob Fuller. McGraw changed the shifts to A Kelly system. This system has firefighters working twenty-four hour shifts, but includes twenty-four hours of standby prior to coming on shift.
In 1986 NPFD hired a new Fire Chief, Tom Monk. During the 1980's NPFD had a very active volunteer staff as well as many live-in firefighters, who provided the City with quality fire and EMS services at a fraction of the cost of a full-time staff. In 1990, NPFD hired Chief Barry Jennings. Chief Jennings spent over seven prosperous years with NPFD. In 1998 Tom Depeter became the next Fire Chief. Chief DePeter was no stranger to NPFD, having been with NPFD's neighboring department, North Star Fire Department, for many years. After serving as Chief for 17 months Tom left the department to become a Deputy State Fire Marshall at the Fairbanks post. The city hired Dave Tyler to replace Tom. Chief Tyler came to work here in November 1999. He was previously the Fire Chief of Chena-Goldstream Fire & Rescue in Fairbanks, and Assistant Chief of the Homer Fire Department in Homer, Alaska. After 10 months on the job Chief Tyler moved to the NSVFD as their Chief. Then Buddy Lane, a 20 year veteran of the NPFD, was appointed to the Fire Chiefs position by Mayor Jacobson.
The mission of the Fire Department of the City of North Pole shall be to protect and enhance the quality of life of the citizens of our community; to safeguard the well being, safety and prosperity of our community by providing fire suppression, fire prevention, emergency medical service, rescue and response to hazardous material spills and leaks; to provide our citizens with a well equipped and highly trained emergency response system that is capable of alleviating the effects of disasters, tragedies and other threats to life and property.
North Pole Fire Department Today
Currently, NPFD has ten paid employees and approximately twenty volunteer members who respond to over 700 EMS and 160 fire related emergencies each year. These emergencies range anywhere from structure fires to hazardous materials to confined space rescues. NPFD protects two major petroleum refineries and a portion of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline. Demographically, our department is approximately 30% female, much higher than the national average of 1%.