Fire Department
The Anchorage Fire Department was established in July 14, 1911 by Chief Eugene J. Straus and a group of volunteer firefighters. Over the years a number of changes have been made to both the service and the way the department fights fires. Dedication and pride however are still the key ingredients to the success of the department. The Anchorage Fire Department is now staffed with 23 paid professionals serving a four-square-mile area in eastern Jefferson County.
In the late seventies several citizens noted that the established EMS services in the area did not meet the needs of Anchorage since response times were sometime more than thirty minutes due to distance, traffic and the number of ambulances available at the time. Together the citizens rallied to get a certificate of need from the state to create their own ambulance district. Now an Anchorage citizen can get medical assistance in four of five minutes.
The Anchorage EMS service normally will respond to anything east of I-64.