Prior to Grace Chapel Fire Department fire protection for our community was
served by the Town of Granite Falls Fire Department. At the time there were portions of our district that simply did not have any fire protection. There were several members of the community that wanted to change this. They gathered at a church located on Grace Chapel Road where a community meeting was held. It was at this time in the early 1970s that the community members agreed to start their own Fire Department. All of the members were directly from the Grace Chapel community. They were responsible for raising their own money as well as purchasing their own turn out gear. Mostly being rural farmers, they had the wits to build their own fire apparatus to get started. They began working at the community fairgrounds and cooking to raise money. They later began what made our fire department famous in our area. They began making their own BBQ and selling it the community twice a year. This aided in getting money to build a fire station where they also build their own pits to smoke the hogs. This tradition continued for over 30 years until COVID and the new fire station were constructed. This money from the BBQ purchased much of the equipment, turnout gear, and apparatus at the fire
department. Our brush truck that is still the front line brush truck used today was purchased with this BBQ funding.

If it were not for the mere determination, willingness to serve, and vast commitment to this community of the founding members we would in no way be where we are today. Today our community has grown to require a fire department that is staffed 24 hours a day and responds to over 1,000 call responses annually. We still hold and respond with the same values those who
have gone before us served with. Grace Chapel Fire Department has always been known to be comprised of aggressive and hard-working firefighters. We strive every day to hold true to this long-standing tradition.

Grace Chapel Fire Department has always been committed to providing the best public service to our community since the beginning. These group of men and women had the forethought to provide this type of protection to our community. They worked hard to grow it as well. Grace Chapel FD was one of the first fire departments to move forward with a first responder program that was supported by the County to begin aiding our community with medical calls. They also followed suit being able to provide light rescue services to our
community. This same mentality is still holding true today. We are one of the few departments in our county to be able to provide Advance Life Support services to our community prior to the arrival of the ambulance. We were a leading department in the county to begin responding to lift assist responses to better aid those in need of assistance. We are in the process of constructing a second fire station that will be staffed. This again will make us the first non-municipal department in our county to be able to provide this high quality of fire protection to not only our community, but our surrounding communities as well.