Seventy years later, the Burlington Volunteer Fire Department is well equipped with a fleet of trucks housed in a modern fire hall built specifically for its needs.

The department plans to celebrate its history with an open house Sunday from 1 to 4 p.m. in the fire hall. Fire trucks will be on display and refreshments will be served. There also will be memorabilia to view, and former firefighters are encouraged to come and reminisce.

Fire board president Derrill Fick said the event will serve an additional purpose in keeping the public aware of the importance of the fire department. Burlington was well aware of the need for a fire department in 1951.

“The thriving community at the time wanted to protect their properties,” Fick said. “It was the foresight of the business owners to create safety for the residents here – business and private land.”

Jill Schramm/MDN Tim Hoff, left, and Derrill Fick stand Thursday outside the Stemen Memorial Fire Hall Hall, built in 2007 in Burlington. One of the newer acquisitions, a 2012 fire truck, sits outside the station.

A group of businessmen met on April 5, 1951, to talk about organizing a fire department to protect the city and the Burlington Project. Leo Stemen was the first chief, and his first duty was to find the money needed to buy equipment, according to a department history written years ago by Stemen’s son, Delvin.

The department collected pledges, using $300 to buy a 1939 Chevrolet truck in August 1951 in Dickinson. It purchased a used pump and motor for $475 that it used to outfit the truck.

The department remodeled the old jail building in Burlington for a fire hall. It was just large enough to store the department’s lone truck.

The department increased from one truck to three over the next 15 years. The written history reports a high turnover in firefighters, leaving the department with eight to 15 at any given time. The only means of notifying firemen of a fire was a siren on the fire hall, which was good if the wind was not blowing and if it was summer and firemen were outside or had windows open.

In 1980, Leo Stemen retired as fire chief, and that same year the department moved into its new home at City Hall. By then, it had acquired seven pieces of firefighting equipment, including a new 1980 model pumper. The number of volunteer firefighters had grown to 25, each with his own personal pager.

The department continued to modernize, adding onto and moving into a different building. In 2008, the department moved into a newly constructed fire hall. Firefighters had contributed much of the interior labor. Later, the fire training tower near the Minot airport that the Minot department no longer needed was installed at the Burlington fire hall.

The fire hall has space to hold department meetings, conduct training and offer community CPR classes. It also houses multiple pieces of equipment that are not only more advanced but more reliable than the early vehicles. It owns three grass trucks, two tankers, two rescue trucks, a side-by-side multi-terrain vehicle and a 70-foot ladder truck that had helped its previous owner with dust control at Ground Zero after the World Trade Center terrorist attack in 2001.

In addition, the department has command response vehicles for the chief and assistant chief. The number of volunteer firefighters stands at about 28.

“They all have to leave their place of business – wherever they work – to go do this,” Fick said. “We’re thankful the businesses have the leeway to let these employees do that. Without that happening, we aren’t going to have a lot of volunteers out here.”

Firefighters complete 150 to 200 hours of training to join the department and are required to obtain almost 80 hours of additional training every year. Some members also have dive rescue training. Qualified mechanics in the ranks perform much of the equipment maintenance. The department sends representatives into the local school each year for fire safety education and has high school students who serve as Junior members.

The department’s budget has grown to around $100,000. Grant funds, an annual pancake breakfast benefit, production of an annual community calendar and additional taxes from city growth help meet those expenses.

The department is on sound footing after struggling early on due to uncertain rural donations year to year. The department received regular support from the City of Burlington, but it wasn’t until later that rural residents voted to form a district and tax themselves for fire protection.

“Everybody was for it,” said former firefighter Tim Hoff, who served 20 years with the department. “There wasn’t a farmer or a person that lived out in the country that wasn’t for it.”

Several years ago, the city of Burlington was incorporated into the district so city residents now pay a tax directly to the department rather than through their city government.

The Burlington district extends south from just south of Minot Air Force Base to the junction with the Des Lacs fire protection area, and on the east from about halfway to Minot to about eight miles west of Burlington.

Over the years, the department has battled a train derailment fire and evacuated residents from floods.

Karter Lesmann, the department’s current chief, said prior to the oil boom about 15 years ago, Burlington responded to 25 to 30 calls a year. Last year brought more than 160 calls, and 2019 had seen about 180 calls. More frequent response to vehicle crashes accounted for a share of the increase.

Hoff also recalled good times, too, when gathering with fellow firefighters wasn’t so serious.

“We always found time to have some fun and have water fights,” he said. A former Burlington firefighter, who came to the area with the Air Force, brought with him the idea for Firemen Musters that were popular in his home state of Maine. The firefighter competition events hosted by Burlington in the early 1980s even drew a Canadian team.

Sunday’s celebration is planned as another enjoyable event. Firefighters will have a chance to interact with their community and give residents a first hand look at how far their fire protection service has come.