Fire Protection District 100 Years in the Making

The Deerfield Volunteer Fire Department was officially organized 100 years ago this month with Lincoln Pettis appointed as its first fire chief.

In 1942, the department broke away from being under the Village of Deerfield's jurisdiction to become the Deerfield-Bannockburn Fire Protection District.

The organization has certainly come a long way from its humble beginnings of battling blazes with the help of bucket brigades and two-wheel carts drawn by a horse or an automobile.

Today, the district has 42 sworn firefighter/paramedics and two dedicated stations—Station 20 built in 1996 at 500 Waukegan Road in Deerfield, and Station 19 built in 1998  at 1935 Half Day Road just east of I-94 in Bannockburn.

Read more about the history of the fire district and how it's changed over the years in the Chicago Tribune.