History

Northdale Fire Patch 1964 - 1969	History of the Oakdale Fire Department The Oakdale Fire Department was formed in 1964 under the name of Northdale Fire Department.	Oakdale Fire Patch 1994 - Present
The Oakdale Fire Department originated in the garage of Dean Arnt with only 12 members, one old Jeep and a 1953 Ford truck purchased from a neighboring department. they borrowed $12,000.00 to build a station at 6279 50th St. N. This is currently the site of our station 1. The first chief was John Fry and the group responded to 24 calls in the first year. The next purchase was a 1960 pumper with numerous pieces of equipment.
The Original station was built, in 1964, with 3 bays, a hose tower, meeting room, 2 bathrooms, kitchen and office all in 60' X 40'.
Oakdale Fire Patch 1969 - 1975	In 1969 the first Class A pumper was purchased From American LaFrance. It was a Pioneer 1000 GPM, 750 gallon tank pumper that carried 5 fire fighters, plus Driver and Officer. In 1972 the second Class A Pioneer LaFrance was purchased. This was also a 1250 GPM Pumper. In 1974 we added two large bays on to the station.
Oakdale Fire Patch 1975 - 1989	In 1980 Oakdale Fire started to provide ambulance service to the community. The service provided was at a Basic Life Support level, staffed by EMT's. This service was enhanced to include the ability to start IV's in 1996. Also in 1996 we entered into an agreement with Lakeview Ambulance to provide the residents of Oakdale Paramedic Service. This two tier service is still in affect today.	Oakdale Fire 25 year Anniversary Patch 1989 - 1993
Oakdale Fire Patch 1994 - Present	In 1997 the Oakdale Fire Department under took its' greatest challenge. The Oakdale Fire Department double its' coverage area. Prior to this time Oakdale was covered by two fire departments. The Oakdale Fire Department covered the North half of the city and the East County Line Fire Department covered the South half. When Oakdale Fire took over the entire city, the department membership doubled and the call volume almost tripled. The call volume was approx. 500 per year to 1300 per year. (See Statistics for more details) The fire fighters located in the south half worked out of the public works garage. We started with 2 pumpers, an ambulance and a brush truck. The public works department gave us a room to use as an office. One of the biggest challenges we had was keeping the trucks clean.
In the Fall of 1997 we broke ground for our station 2. This station is located at 6633 15 St N. In May of 1998 we moved into the new station. In Spring of 2002 we will broke ground for our new station 1 located at 5000 Hadley Ave. The new station was completed and dedicated in January of 2003.
In the Spring of 2003 we hired our second full time employee. Deputy Chief Wold was hired to be fire marshal and Deputy Chief for the City of Oakdale. In 2004 we are hired two more full time employees, a Fire Fighter/Paramedic and a Fire Fighter/EMT. These individuals will be responsible for responding to all medical call during the hours of 6:00 AM to 4:00 PM, Monday through Friday. With the hiring of these individuals we have upgraded our level of ambulance service. We are now providing Advance Life Support (ALS) service to the citizens of Oakdale. In 2007 we added two more full time Fire Fighter/Paramedics. These individuals will be responsible for responding to all medical call during the hours of 10:00PM to 6:00 PM, Monday through Friday. With the hiring of these individuals we have doubled the number of hours when we have Advance Life Support (ALS) service available to the citizens of Oakdale.