During the late '80s, rescue squad members and advisors determined that if their squad was to remain strong and independent, it needed to develop a long-range, strategic plan for the future. As a result, the Task Force 2000 committee was formed to develop a plan that would guide the rescue squad into the next century. The committee quickly realized that the squad's most urgent need was for a new, larger, and better-equipped headquarters.

When it was built in 1957, the squad's home at 408 20th Street was designed to accommodate three vehicles and 30 men who answered 400 calls a year. Clearly, by the '80s, the squad had outgrown its home. With six vehicles and nearly 75 men and women, the squad answered more than 7,000 calls per year. After more than 38 years, the old squad house, with its leaking roof and faulty furnace, had deteriorated.

The Squad Captain appointed a New Building Committee, which held its first meeting on November 18, 1992. After several meetings, the committee appointed R. Bradshaw Pulley as Chairman, and Peter A. Agelasto, III as Capital Campaign Chairman, and charged them with guiding the rescue squad's new building plan and capital campaign to a successful end.

A capital campaign goal of $2 million was established and an aggressive fund raising effort was soon underway. The City provided 1.5 acres of land on 17th Street, $500,000 for site work, and $1.25 million -- 10 year, interest-free construction loan. Plans were drawn, a contractor was chosen, and ground was broken on January 11, 1995. Now, the nine vehicles and nearly 100 male and female volunteers have a home -- in a state-of-the-art facility.

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