For Immediate Release

Community Invited to Join Redwood City Fire Department for Plaque Dedication Commemorating Department ’s 150th Anniversary

Redwood City, CA - The Redwood City Fire Department’s sesquicentennial is being celebrated throughout 2011, and the community is invited to join in as a commemorative plaque is dedicated at Fire Station #9 in Downtown Redwood City.

• Thursday, October 6th, 2011
  10:00 am
  Fire Station #9, 755 Marshall Street, Redwood City

This very special commemoration and celebration will help to recognize and honor the century-and-a-half of service provided to the community by the professionals of the Redwood City Fire Department. The celebration of this extraordinary 150-year anniversary milestone during 2011 opened earlier this year with a news conference, commemorative badge distribution, and display of historic fire-fighting equipment. Our fire department and its sesquicentennial were then featured during the City’s annual 4th of July parade. The keynote of the event on October 6th will be the dedication of a bronze plaque commemorating the 150th anniversary of the Redwood City Fire Department, which will be presented by the Native Sons of the Golden West, Redwood Parlor #66.

Historic fire-fighting equipment will be on display, and light refreshments will be served. The entire community is invited to come to a closed-off Marshall Street (parking is available in the Marshall Street garage, by entering from the Broadway side) and be part of this remarkable occasion.          

The mission of the Native Sons of the Golden West is to help in efforts to preserve California’s rich history – which certainly describes the Redwood City Fire Department. It was 1861 when the Redwood City Fire Department first came into being, six years before the City itself was even incorporated. America was in the midst of a civil war, Abraham Lincoln was inaugurated as President of the United States, it was the final year of the Pony Express mail service, and the territories of Nevada and Colorado were created. Against that historic backdrop, the “Redwood City Fire Company No. 1” was formed for the protection of the community, which at that time numbered less than 2,000 people.

The first Redwood City Firehouse was built on Main Street in 1862. Today, the Redwood City Fire Department consists of five fire stations housing five engines and one truck, and currently has over 70 staff members including firefighters, firefighter/paramedics, captains and battalion chiefs, fire prevention staff, training staff, and administrative staff, all in service of a core population of over 75,000 people, as well as to provide mutual aid to other communities nearby.

Visit Redwood City’s award-winning website at www.redwoodcity.org for information about the City and its services, the community, recreation programs, education, and local business. Subscribe to Redwood City’s email newsletter and other City documents by visiting www.redwoodcity.org/egov.

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Contact:
Redwood City Fire Department Chief Jim Skinner or On Duty Battalion Chiefs
650-780-7400