Atlas Twp.-It was Nov. 11, 1939 and the township board of trustees motion called for a public hearing for the purpose of organizing a fire department. A month earlier, the first fire truck was purchased from General Fire Truck Company of Detroit. At a cost of $3,888, a General Model 90c fire truck on a 1940, 1/2 ton Ford 95 horsepower chassis was purchased.
Today, the township fire department incorporates about 28 paid on-call firefighters with a fleet of six trucks, along with a utility task vehicle.
The township fire department recently celebrated 75 years and to commemorate the anniversary, township resident and paid on-call firefighter Lial Miller painted two pictures depicting the milestone.
‘The paintings incorporate features of the fire department over the years,? said Miller. ‘From the new fire hall to modern trucks to communications, the Atlas Township Fire Department has evolved into a strong community organization.?
The paintings will hang in the township fire hall and the Goodrich/Atlas Historical Museum.
The paintings feature the original fire hall at Hegel and Serina along with the new structure completed in 1994; the original township fire siren, now located in Frankenmuth; and two of the first fire trucks’a 1940 Ford pumper and a 1948 tanker that hauled 500 gallons of water. In contrast, the current fire truck, a 2008 pumper tanker that carries 3,000 gallons of water to a fire is also in the painting as well as the township utility task vehicle, one of the original 12 Atlas Township fire buckets, and the original Atlas Township Fire Department radio call signal KNED341.