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Nov. 09--Memories and community togetherness were evident during the Ruffin Volunteer Fire Department's 50th anniversary celebration on Saturday.
Charles "Bobby" Wharton and Fire Chief Gary "Peanut" Brown stood together sharing memories and looking through newspaper clippings hanging on the wall during the celebration.
Both Wharton's and Brown's fathers were part of the original fire department staff and helped found the station back in 1961.
Wharton remembered back to March 1961, when he, his two brothers and his parents watched Lee Cobb's Store burn to the ground and there was nothing anyone could do about it.
Ruffin was so rural at the time that by the time a fire department could reach the fire, it was usually too late to save the building, as was the case for Lee Cobb's Store.
The Reidsville Fire Department came to help, according to Wharton, but by the time they reached the store all they could do was keep the surrounding area safe.
Wharton's father, as well as other men in town, decided they needed to start their own fire department.
"They had watched houses burn in the past," Wharton said. "Because there were no fire stations, if your house caught on fire and you couldn't put out your house, it would burn to the ground."
The men of Ruffin began calling around looking for a fire truck. The closest location which would sell one was in New York at America La France. The company told them it would take nine months.
However, another town couldn't afford the fire truck America La France built for them and offered it to the Ruffin Volunteer Fire Department for $13,200.
The men began fundraisers including turkey shoots, collecting bottles, raffles and even building a roof on a man's house to pay for the truck.
Each of the charter members also put their house up as part of the loan to raise the money, and soon they had their truck, which was parked outside the fire station during the anniversary celebration.
Wharton said $13,200 was a lot of money in 1961; however, their most recent truck purchase cost $200,000.
The fire department had a display of what it cost to dress a fireman in 1961 and in the present day. Gloves in 1961 cost $6 and now will cost $56. The helmet in 1961 cost $20 and now costs $300.
Ruffin Volunteer Fire Department currently has 24 volunteers, though the number is usually closer to 30-32. It costs the department close to $4,000 to fully outfit and equip its volunteers. In 1961, the volunteers took on half of the expense to outfit themselves.
Wharton said the fire department was the first rural department in Rockingham County and, because of this they assisted on many fire calls across the county, especially for rural communities without their own fire departments. However, since they were often far away, they also were unable to save a lot of homes from burning.
The fire department boasts many saved buildings, the most pertinent being the Ruffin School, which caught fire during a storm in 1969.
The school lost an entire wing but, in the end, the Ruffin Volunteer Fire Department, with the assistance of Eden, Reidsville, Monroeton, and Wentworth departments were able to save the rest of the school, which is now closed, but still standing.
Wharton said the department received a letter from the county saying if the fire department never fought another fire again, saving the school building would be worth what it had cost to have the Ruffin Volunteer Fire Department.
Since, they were the first rural fire department, according to Wharton, they had to learn new methods of communicating there was a fire, and where it was located.
The fire department set up seven phones throughout the town, which would ring if someone wanted to report a fire. Next to the phone was a button, which would set off the sirens at the fire station, and the men would report to the station to find out where the fire was located.
The fire station still has its original chalkboard, which would have the address of the fire written on it. In the days before radios and GPS, the men still were unable to locate a fire at times.
The station decided to keep paper bags of white lyme in the fire truck. Every time the truck made a turn a firefighter would throw a bag down. The men would look for a white mark on the ground and knew to turn until they came upon the fire.
In the first year, the department fought 88 house and barn fires. Due to fire alarms, the calls aren't nearly this high in present day; however, because of assisting on medical calls, the station runs close to 300 calls each year, according to Wharton.
The community celebrated the many accomplishments of the fire station, on Saturday, while dining on stew, barbeque and dessert.
"We're feeding the community barbeque, stew, desserts and drinks to say thank you for helping us survive 50 years," Wharton said. "There's been tough times and there's been good times, and the community has supported us for 50 years."
