Firehouse 31....
Once known as Village Hills Volunteer Fire Department. That name goes back to the time when Duval County had outlying stations manned by Volunteer personnel only. Duval County Fire Department assigned the station number 83 when it opened in 1960. The city of Jacksonville consolidated. with Duval County to form one central Government entity in 1968 and the City and County Fire Departments joined together. At that time all of the old county stations were renumbered and that's when the number 31 was assigned.
After a new Firefighter was voted in, they were given a full set of turnout gear and a Plectron pager radio that operated on 154.445 MHz. The radio picked up dispatch tones and alerted firefighters whenever a call went out. Right up until the early 1980's no real training was required to respond as a Volunteer Firefighter, but a good number of them liked the job enough to try and get hired with the City. The City of Jacksonville offered the then 240 hour Florida Firefighter Minimum Standards class free of charge to Volunteers. This class was taught at the training facility at 625 Stockton St. where Fire Station Eight was once housed. Station Eight has been renovated and now houses the Jacksonville Association of Firefighters. The Training Academy was moved adjacent to the FCCJ South Campus 1n 1989.
More History coming soon!