The Vienna Volunteer Fire Department has provided professional life-saving services since its inception in 1903. In 2003, to mark the occasion of 100 years of service, several local newspapers published the following three articles about the VVFD and its history.
Vienna Connection. June 11, 2003
Vienna Volunteer Fire Department Celebrates 100th Anniversary
Firefighters acknowledge a century of service.
By Joanna Franco
In 1903, Vienna consisted of dirt roads and patches of farmland. One hundred years later, the town struggles to maintain a small-town identity in the midst of traffic congestion and development. Throughout its century of existence, the Vienna Volunteer Fire Department has continued to fight fires and rescue people in need.
The Vienna Volunteer Fire Department celebrated its 100th anniversary on May 31 at the Hyatt Fair Lakes in Fairfax. Current firefighters, longtime members, Ladies’ Auxiliary members, area citizens and local officials attended the event, with U.S. Fire Administrator David Paulison giving the keynote address.
“It’s really quite amazing when you think back 100 years,” said Vienna fire chief Donald L. Burns.
Paulison spoke of the potential challenges firefighters face in today’s world. To combat threats and bioterrorism, Paulison called for a nationwide command system as well as a standardized credential system, more cooperation between fire departments and police and public health departments, and identification and practice of worst-case scenarios.
“You do whatever it takes because you are sworn to protect those communities,” Paulison said. “You’re going to be the ones on the ground doing this job … so you’ve got to make sure you’re ready and you’re trained.”
Dozens of local firefighters, Vienna citizens and local officials gathered at the Hyatt Fair Lakes to celebrate the department’s anniversary.
During the 100th Anniversary celebration of the Vienna Volunteer Fire Department on May 31, several members of the department and the Auxiliary were recognized for their contributions over the years.
Those awarded with 10-Year Service Awards were Gilman C. Aldridge, Martha Armstong, Carol Blevins, Boots Curry, Joan Dempsey, Joseph H. Duffield and Marie Hart; the 15-Year Service awardee was Marshall Potter; the 20-Year Service awardees were Rita Slaughter and Rose Schardt; the 30-Year Service awardee was Mildred Bispo; the 50-Year Service awardee was Charles Singleton.
The Vienna Volunteer Fire Department also recognized Anthony Stancampiano as EMS Provider of the Year; John Morrison as Firefighter of the Year and Volunteer of the Year; and Walter “Scotty” Allensworth with the Freeman Award, which recognizes a life member who had made a significant contribution during the year.
Vienna Connection. May 22, 2003
Vienna Volunteer Fire Department Celebrates 100th Anniversary
Fire department has witnessed Vienna's growth from farming community to suburban town.
By Joanna Franco
Before the Metro, automated teller machines and stop lights, back when Vienna consisted of patches of rolling farmland, Vienna councilman Leon Freeman decided that in order to fight fires, assembling the neighbors to establish a bucket brigade wasn’t enough. So Freeman organized the Vienna Volunteer Fire Department in 1903, the same year that the first telephone was installed at a Vienna home.
This year marks the 100th anniversary of the Vienna Volunteer Fire Department. For 100 years, volunteer and professional firefighters and emergency medical technicians have responded to thousands of calls and extinguished hundreds of fires.
In addition to being the first volunteer fire department established in the county, the company also was among the first to recruit women and establish quarters and facilities for both men and women.
To celebrate the anniversary, the department has planned a gala to be held on May 31, at the Hyatt Fair Lakes in Fairfax, Va. United States Fire Administrator R. David Paulison will be the guest speaker, and the Madison High School jazz band will provide musical entertainment.
Over the years, volunteers and professionals have witnessed numerous accidents and fires. Vienna resident Sam Savia, a life member of the fire department, intends to share the more amusing stories at the gala. Savia, who in November will be a member for 62 years, joined the fire department in 1941 when he was 15. They needed more volunteers because the members were being drafted to serve in World War II. His younger brother joined the following year.
“When you grow up with something, you have a lot of knowledge,” Savia said, explaining his expertise.
Savia said that the fire department was all volunteer until 1950, when the county paid a custodian to maintain the equipment. Now the department consists of volunteers and professionals with the Fairfax County Fire & Rescue Department.
Fellow life member Tom Bonner started volunteering in 1961 with Vienna residents Ed Purcell and Jerry Miller after Savia approached them at a bingo game at the Our Lady of Good Counsel Catholic Church. To get into the action, Bonner recalled, the volunteers would have to spend a night, usually a Friday night, down at the firehouse. If they were at home and they heard the siren call, by the time they would reach the firehouse, they would be used for backup.
“If you were down at the firehouse, you had a good chance of getting to the fire on the first or second truck,” Bonner said.
Some memories of answered calls stick out in Bonner’s mind, like using a pillow to stop the bleeding of a battered woman or witnessing a man on fire after he had been smoking in bed. But some of the memories were more pleasant, like the camaraderie among the members or the training with “Doc” Plummer, who was so named because he delivered so many babies when responding to calls.
“You were relying on each one to back you up, so you all would get out of the fire safely,” Bonner said, when asked about the department’s camaraderie.
The next step for the Vienna Volunteer Fire Department, according to Savia, is to bring its current firehouse into code and to construct more space for storage and living quarters. The department is seeking $2.5 million to make these changes.
“We have always been able to maintain the newest equipment that was available,” Savia said.
Sun Weekly. May 27, 2003
Volunteer Fire Department Celebrates 100 Years
By Brian Trompeter
When Sam Savia joined the Vienna Volunteer Fire Department in 1941, it was the natural thing to do. After all, his brother Phillip served there and the department was located only a block away on Church Street.
“I was proud to be an American,” said Savia, both of whose parents were Italian immigrants. “I felt fortunate to be here and wanted to give something back.”
Before serving in the Army Air Corps in World War II, Savia watched for aircraft from the department’s tower and listened for air raid alerts from its siren.
“If you were on call and the siren blew, you went, even if you had a customer in the chair,” said Savia, who worked in his family’s barber shop. “Often he’d belong [to the fire department], too, and you’d finish up the haircut later.”
Three siren blasts meant a brush or woods fire, more indicated a structure blaze and a minutes-long, continuous blast signaled an air raid, Savia said.
The air raid siren is gone and the department occupies a different building, but Vienna volunteer firefighters continue to help keep the town safe.
The department will celebrate its centennial on Saturday, May 31, at a gala at the Hyatt Fair Lakes in Fairfax.
U.S. Fire Administrator R. David Paulison will be the keynote speaker. The Vienna Police Department’s Honor Guard will present colors and the James Madison High School Jazz Band will provide music.
The Vienna Volunteer Fire Department was established in 1903 at the behest of Vienna Town Council member Leon Freeman, the same man after whom the town’s Freeman Store is named. Freeman was the town’s first fire chief and remained active in the department until 1936.
Although it was the first volunteer fire department established in Fairfax County, the designation “Company 1” went to the McLean Volunteer Fire Department, whose charter arrived in the mail one day earlier than Vienna’s, and Vienna had to settle for the “Company 2” designation.
Not satisfied with “bucket brigade” efforts, the department purchased a 35-gallon, horse-drawn tank that was activated by soda acid. The tank was stored under the side porch of the Freeman Store until 1929, when the department moved to its next facility on Church Street, N.W.
This site, which later was converted to the recently closed Worthington’s store, had two A-shaped bay roofs to accommodate equipment.
The department’s 1919 Model T Ford truck was the county’s first motorized firefighting vehicle. It was followed soon by a 1924 Chevy. Another of the department’s early vehicles, a 1946 Maxim pumper truck, still is on display at the station and occasionally is used for parades and other events.
In 1958, the department moved to its current facility at 400 Center St., S. The building was to be located where Waters Field now sits, but the Fairfax County School Board wanted more land next to Vienna Elementary School, Savia said.
The department now has 70 volunteers, most of whom serve in support roles. The station received its first paid employee, Robert Hunter, in 1948 and now has 21 paid firefighters. These people are divided into three crews that work a dozen 24-hour shifts per month, Savia said.
When terrorists crashed an airplane into the Pentagon on Sept. 11, 2001, Vienna’s paid firefighters assisted with rescue efforts. Volunteer crews helped by staffing additional medical units in Vienna and Fairfax County, fire officials said.
The department supports itself through donations, fund-raising efforts and bingo games in its meeting hall every Sunday night.
The department also used to have charity baseball games where players would ride donkeys around the bases, said volunteer firefighter Thomas Bonner, who joined in 1961.
Last year, the department bought more than $500,000 worth of new equipment, including a new fire engine and medic unit.
The department has spent nearly $200,000 renovating the front of its fire station and hopes to raise $2.4 million to improve the building’s living quarters and other facilities, said Howard Springsteen, president of the Vienna Volunteer Fire Department.
Tickets to the fire department’s centennial gala cost $75. To purchase tickets or make a donation, visit www.vvfd.org or write to the Vienna Volunteer Fire Department, P.O. Box 1115, Vienna, VA 22183.