BRIEF HISTORY:

Little is known about the fire fighting in Emporium pioneer days of the 1840's through 1880's. If there were fire fighting departments then, no record of them has ever been found.

But the roots of the Emporium Fire Department can be traced to the 1880's and 1890’s when Emporium had three departments:
The Mountaineer Hose Co.#1, located on the corner of Broad Street and 5th Street.
The Citizens Hose Co.#2, located on Locust Street in the east end of Emporium.
The Hamilton Hose Co.#3, located on West 4th Street and Vine Street.

Sometime in the 1920's the merger of the three departments resulted in the Emporium Fire Department.
Today the department is made up of both men and women from mostly within a five mile radius of the center of Emporium. We respond to an average of 110 calls per year and cover the most square mileage in the state of Pennsylvania, at 227.4 square miles.