History
Evergreen’s residents decided to establish an official fire department in 1948. “We met at the schoolhouse, and we all chipped in to buy some equipment… We started out with a pump and a hose and a Dodge power wagon,” said A.R. Clark, one of the Evergreen Volunteer Fire Department founding members. They outfitted the truck with hose and a pump from the State Forestry Department. Mary Quaintance donated land on Main Street for a fire house and the new firefighters built their first fire station.
In 1952, a young girl was struck by a car as she tried to cross Main Street. She remained on the street, battered, bleeding and slowly dehydrating, for over an hour as she and bystanders waited for an ambulance to respond from Denver. That wait would never happen again. Evergreen’s leading citizens, many of whom had helped establish the fire department four years earlier, raised enough money to buy a station wagon and convert it into an ambulance. Thus began the Evergreen Ambulance Service. Firefighters joined the ranks of this fledgling organization to improve the service offered to their neighbors.
Evergreen Ambulance merged with Evergreen Fire Department’s Rescue Squad in 1986, creating the Evergreen Emergency Medical Services. One year later this service officially became part of the Evergreen Fire Protection District and EMTs joined the payroll. Other personnel also found jobs with the district because it had expanded enough to need permanent employees to keep the fire department functioning at its best. The staff has grown through the years to keep pace with the service Evergreen’s residents deserve from their “all-hazard” fire department.
Evergreen Volunteer fire department Charter Members J. Alderfer Don Bruce Arthur Lindgren G. Smith
Don Ambler A.R. Clark Sr. William Marshall Herb Snowbarger
Frank Anderson A.R. Clark Jr. Gus Martin Ken Tatum
Walter Anderson Harold Cauthra John Myers Maurice Turner
Irving Antweiler James Davis Leon Nelson Carrol Teske
William Ault Charles Feehan Gerald Olde Jack Thomas
Everett Ault Everett Gass Charles Osborne H. Wallower Sr.
Lewis Armburst John Griebling A. Pennington Frank Waggoner
C. Beall Ed Henley William Reuter Walter Washausen
Elmer Bedford Stuart Lamkin Jack Rouse Don Wood
Hal La Bernz Leroy Lansing John Schneider
Glen Renshaw William Luce Edwin Skibba

Charter Members 1948

First Firehouse in Downtown Evergreen

Evergreen Fire November 1926