Updated as of 12:15 p.m. to include video from event.
The Elon Fire Department celebrated its 100th anniversary Oct. 25 with an open house that included a slideshow of the fire department's history and was attended by residents and town council members.
The fire department was established in 1925 following the Elon fire in 1923. The fire destroyed most of the campus including the main building of Elon College, which was replaced with Alamance.
Assistant Chief of the Elon Fire Department Ray Pruitt said the practice of having volunteers join the department initially started after the 1923 fire. The department was made up of volunteers after the fire but was not officially established until 1925.
“We have student volunteers,” Pruitt said. “It's been a great opportunity to be able to work with the students and the community.”
A photographic memorial located in the Emergency Operations Center at Fire Station 8 on Oct. 25. located along S. Williamson Ave. This was part of the decorations in memory of 100 years of dedicated service by the Elon Fire Department.
Elon senior Gloria Tena, who serves as a student volunteer, said this anniversary represents the Fire Department's commitment to the community
“For these 100 years, we've developed as a fire department itself, with just a few starting as volunteers and now having paid staff, as well as having student volunteers as well as juniors too,” Tena said. “We've grown the fire department to be who we are today, and it really just means growth as well as our commitment to serving those around us.”
This year the Elon Fire Department has a total of 14 volunteers, a high for the department according to Pruitt. Tena said students continuing to volunteer shows their commitment to the community
“We've grown as a department, just in general thanks to our students,” Tena said. “It's amazing that our student volunteers, our students in general, want to come in and volunteer and really commit to service to our community. I think it's absolutely amazing.”
Town of Elon Mayor Emily Sharpe said raising awareness about the fire department is important.
“Any opportunity to raise awareness about all the great things that our fire department does, is a great opportunity,” Sharpe said. “It would be great to see more volunteers come out and support our fire department, but also just raise that awareness of you know, they're not just here to fight fires.”
Sharpe said that the Town of Elon makes sure to go big for celebrating milestones like this because of their commitment to the community.
“Elon being one of the safest communities in all of North Carolina, that is 100% because of our first responders, including our fire department,” Sharpe said. “Any opportunity we can to celebrate them is going to be one that we're going to go big and celebrate.”