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From about 30 calls in their first year to 285 already in 2015, the South Fork Fire Department has grown. 

The 25 firefighters who make up the force today have thousands of hours of training and much better equipment than those first volunteers did in 1965, but Chief John Dancoff Jr. gave praise to those who started the department 50 years ago. 

Gene Gore, who heads up the Board of Directors of the department, said you have to be crazy to do what these firefighters do: answering a call on a 20-degree morning in winter at 2 AM, putting on your equipment and going in to fight a fire burning at 700-degrees.  "But thank God for these crazy people" he said. 

NC State Representative Jason Saine attended the celebration.  Saine, himself a former volunteer with the East Lincoln Fire Department, praised the firefighters. He also read a letter from US Rep. Patrick McHenry, who was unable to attend, saying that a flag flown over the Capitol was being sent to the department from his office.

Those attending enjoyed refreshments and looking over memorabilia of the fire department's history.




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