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Fire Department
Fire Chief Tom LaRue along with Deputy Chief Steve Sturgeon leads 30 volunteers and 12 full time firefighters into the call of duty. The firehouse is equipped with 2-Class A engines, 1-75’ aerial, 1-grass rig, 1-hose truck and 1-command vehicle and 2-thermal imagers. You can count on our first response team to provide fire protection, BLS non-transport ambulance service, HAZ-MAT, rescue, fire prevention and code enforcements. The Columbia City Fire Department also serves the City by appearing at area schools for fire safety training, fire prevention and “stop, drop and roll”
The Fire Department is a department of the City of Columbia City and is a combination Department that consists of 12 Fulltime Career Fire Fighters, and approximately 30 Volunteer Fire Fighters. The department is funded by Tax dollars.
Mission Statement
To provide excellent life safety to the community by; aggressively enforcing modern fire prevention codes and laws, effectively educating the public of its role in fire safety, safely and efficiently extinguishing fires, providing emergency medical, hazardous material and other services consistent with the role of a modern fire department
Columbia City Fire Museum
Our fire station also has a non-tax funded fire museum which houses a 1917 Seagrave, 1934 Howe Reo, 1958 American LaFrance and 1953 Seagrave antique trucks. This museum holds many old relics from the beginning of the fire department which will help teach future generations the history of our city’s fire department and fire safety in the City of Columbia City. Antiques: 1917 Seagrave, 1934 Howe Reo, 1958 American LaFrance, 1953 Seagrave
The Sturgeon House
The “Sturgeon House” is a small replica of a normal home. We give numerous tours to school children each year to educate them regarding fire safety in the home.
Annual FREE Christmas Eve Candy Giveaway
It has been over a century long tradition of the Columbia City Fire Department (along with Santa Claus) to hand out a 1 lb. bag of candy and oranges to the children on Christmas Eve from 6:00PM to 8:00PM at the Court House. This candy is purchased through fund raisers and donations which costs about $2000 per year. This has been a wonderful event for the community to see children stand in line to see Santa and get their bag of candy. Approximately 600lbs of candy plus oranges is given out at the Court House Every Year Any donations are greatly appreciated as it gets harder and harder to raise the funds each year. Donations can be directly sent to the Columbia City Fire Department.
Fleet of Equipment:
2014 Spartan Rescue Engine
2004 Crimson Fire Engine
2008 Hose truck
2002 Grass Rig
2001 E-1 Ladder truck
2010 Ford 250 Command Vehicle
Organizational Chart:
Fire Chief Thomas E. LaRue
Deputy Chief Steve Sturgeon
Safety Officer Dave Herron
Captains: Ron Jones, Brian Walker, Chris LaRue, Mike McGregor, Doug Reed, & Kyle Francis
Medical Training Officer Doug Reed
Fire Training Officer Kyle Francis
Fire Marshall Chris LaRue
Fire Department
112 S. Chauncey Street
Columbia City, Indiana 46725
260 248 5161 (non emergency)
Application to join the Volunteer Fire Department (pdf)
Tom LaRue
Fire Chief
tlarue@columbiacity.net
260-248-5160