Navassa Volunteer Fire Department

Type Department: Combination

Structure: Non Profit Corporation

ISO: 5

Number of Stations: 2

Number of Apparatus: 13

Pumpers: 4, Aerials: 0, Specialty: 9

Do you provide EMS? No

Specialty Operations:

• Foam Firefighting (two- foam trailers Class A , Class B, and ARAFFF)
• Traffic Incident Management Response (traffic incident management resource trailer)
• Wildland suppression (two- 4 wheel drive brush trucks, 6 wheel drive Polaris Ranger UTV, and 5 Ton AM General brush truck)
• Water response (19’ water response craft)
• Certified SCBA repair center for department owned breathing equipment

Annual Budget: $260,000.00

Area Covered Square miles: 15

Population: 1500

Total Runs: 145 Fire: 130 EMS: 15

Chief: Donny Williams, Fire Chief

Chief Officers: Derrick Ballard, Asst Chief

Other Officers: 2 Captains

Number of Members: 32 Paid

10 (Part Time): Volunteer: 22

Address: 336 Main Street, Navassa NC 28451

Phone: 910-371-9988

Navassa “Carlisle/Bass” Station # 2 is named in honor of late Fire Chief Bernie Carlisle and late Fire Chief Dewey Bass.

Community Outreach:

• Smoke and CO Detector Program
• Attendance at annual festivals and events

Top Two concerns in your community:

• Growth expected when the new I-140 highway project is completed in June of 2018.  Navassa will be a primary entry point into Brunswick County from New Hanover County.  The first Navassa interchange is one of a few along the highway that currently has water and sewer infrastructure. With this growth service demands will increase.  
• Nationwide decline in the number of volunteers available and available resources to cover the decline with paid staffing.

What upgrades will you make in your department this year? 

• Recent addition of a new 3000 gallon pumper/tanker
• Replacement of out dated 10 year old turn-out gear
• Refurbishment of a quick response squad/brush apparatus

Navassa “Brown/Moore” Station # 1 is named in honor of late Fire Chief Clarence Brown and Late Board Chair James Moore.

What special hazards or unique businesses are in your community? 

The main CSX Train yard that handles all switching operations for rail cargo from Wilmington, the N.C. Port of Wilmington, and the Military Ocean Terminal at Sunny Point. The rail yard is one-quarter mile from the main station. With a car capacity of 2,250, the facility is three miles long and has 55 separate tracks. Within the yard is a transloading facility for dry and liquid bulk products. The yard handles most CSX rail cargo for the area

There is a chemical distillation facility that handles alcohol products.

There is a boat repair facility with deep water access.

What problems in your department that you would like feedback from others? 

• Recruiting volunteers and motivating them to attend training.

List anything else you are proud of and would like the readers to know about.

Our proudest accomplishments have been the strides we have made in the past five years with very limited resources. We have been able to construct a new almost 12,000 square foot main station in 2011 and then build a new 2400 square foot sub-station and repair shop in 2012. The installation of an in ground closed pump test pit was completed in 2013.  The substation and test pit projects were completed with mainly sweat equity from our volunteers. We have prided ourselves on taking on major projects and seeing them through to conserve limited resources.