Historical Development
District 12 Historical Development
Yakima County Fire District 12, also know as West Valley Volunteer Fire Department, was officially formed in 1960 after a petition had been successfully circulated throughout West Valleyand presented to the County Commissioners. The official formation of the District allowed the newly formed District to collect taxes and respond to all citizens within the District without additional charge.
Before that time, residents were asked to pay a $15 yearly fee to belong to the "Rural Fire Protection Agency." Under that system, if a member's home caught fire, the Department would respond free of charge. If a non-member's home caught fire, they would be asked to pay for the service.
Also in 1960, the new Fire Commission was formed including Art Lange, Walt Gano, and Elton Trollope. At this time, the District had a 1952 Ford fire engine, which was housed in a building near Wiley City. There were about 30 volunteers assigned to what was later to become Station Two.
In the fall of 1960, two new GMC fire engines were purchased; one went to the Wiley City Station and the other to a newly leased building at 62nd and Tieton Drive. The Tieton Drive Station soon became known as Station One.
In 1962, Station Three was built on donated land at the corner of Carlson Road and Tieton Drive, north of Mountainview School. Yet, there was still a need for better spacing of fire equipment to serve the 125 square mile response area.
In 1966, Station Four was added on Tampico land donated by Frank Weed. In the same year, Station One was moved to it's present location at 7707 Tieton Drive. The original 1952 Ford fire engine was sold to Layman Logging Company in 1978. In the following years, the District remained essentially the same, except for gradula growth adjacent to the city of Yakima and an ever-increasing workload, primarily due to increased population and the addition of emergency medical response into traditional fire department services.
In the early 1980's, the District made a gradual transition into emergency medical response services by purchasing it's first aid rescue vehicle. Since that time, the delivery of emergency medical services have escalated into approximately 80% of the total response incidents for the District.
Historical Development Timeline