There was only one fire engine, "Old Faithful," converted from a worn 1937 Chevrolet dump truck missing a fender. Lloyd Ragon, who had preceded Taylor as chief, kept it at his car repair shop. Later, the community built a small fire station at the site of Scotts Valley Rockery on Scotts Valley Drive.
Today, Scotts Valley has two stations, three structure-fire engines, a wildland engine, a water tender and a breathing-support van. The structure engines and water tender were custom-made to the district’s specifications by Pierce Manufacturing of Appleton, Wis. In addition, Scotts Valley houses a massive Pierce hazardous-materials response vehicle used throughout the county.
When there’s an emergency, firefighters are radioed and paged. They’re already in the station, ready to go, because the days of an all-volunteer Scotts Valley Fire Department are long gone.
Residents will recall the old days with a smile Saturday, July 19, as Scotts Valley Fire Protection District, formed in 1958, marks its golden anniversary.
Well before then, however, there was firefighting in the area. The state Department of Forestry did it. At times, though, the state firefighters were dispatched to wildfires elsewhere.
Fearful of the lack of protection, Scotts Valley residents formed a volunteer department including the Branciforte area in 1942, known as the 8th Area Fire District. Among the charter firefighters was Gino Delucchi, grandfather of present-day Battalion Chief Jim Delucchi.
In the mid-1950s, the department went through a period of lagging interest, when only a handful of men, dubbed "the dependables," ever joined Ragon on a fire call. Townspeople took to calling it the "volunteerless fire department."
In a present-day re-enactment at left, firefighters Brent McCloskey (from left) and Andrew Sundermier, engineer Greg Vandervoort, secretary Cheryl Barbour and Capt. John Crivello pose with the district’s much larger water tender. Lucjan Szewczyk/Press-Banner
"There were a few firemen, but we grew as the population grew," he said.
Around that time, the fire district was formed, and the firemen decided it was time to retire Old Faithful and get some "new" rigs.
"We went up to San Leandro, where there was a war surplus yard," Taylor recalled. "We bought some old Army tanker trucks, brought them home and converted them here."
That gave the district a new engine and a water tanker, today called a water tender.
"I wish we had the kind of equipment they have today," he smiled.
The department was financed with fundraisers. The biggest each year was a firemen’s ball, first held in a community barn, then in the fire station.
"They were so popular that people came from San Jose, Watsonville, Davenport, and there were cars parked all up and down Scotts Valley Drive," Dorothy Taylor said. "They were marvelous."
Beer and a bottle of whiskey
Even though they were volunteers, the firemen had some rewards.
"We never wanted to send a fireman home hungry, so the grocery store at Camp Evers gave me a key," Taylor recalled. "When we got back from a fire, I’d go down and get some meat, cheese, bread, beer and a bottle of whiskey, then leave a note on the counter."
The Taylors also remember that when any motorist hit a deer, the department would get a call.
"There’s nothing like venison sauerbraten," Dorothy Taylor said.
Carl Taylor, still a volunteer himself, retired in 1974 and was succeeded by Bruce Scott, the district’s first paid chief. Scott had been a fire lieutenant in Humboldt County and, like Taylor, still lives in Scotts Valley.
When Scott arrived, there were five paid firemen and 40 volunteers, he said. The city had been incorporated with about 3,000 residents, and the entire fire district had only 5,000. Today, the 22-square-mile district serves 29,000 residents with 32 career firefighters, including the chief and a handful of paid-call volunteers.
Among the firefighters Scott inherited was a young man named Mike McMurry. He and two others were laid off just four years later, however, when California voters enacted Proposition 13, which severely limited property taxes.
"I hired them back as soon as I could," Scott said.
McMurry eventually succeeded Scott and now is the dean of Santa Cruz County fire chiefs.
A firefighter’s work "has changed a lot," Scott noted. "In my day, you fought fires — that was it."
Nowadays, firefighters handle hazardous-materials spills, various types of rescues and numerous medical calls. Many of the firefighters also are paramedics.
While Taylor couldn’t recall a major fire during his tenure, Scott had no such problem.
"It was a hell of a night," he said. "A gasoline tanker rolled off the side of Highway 17 at Laurel Curve," he said. "It burned up 9,800 gallons of gasoline, and the driver died. It was so hot, it raised the white line on the asphalt. You could bend down and pick up the white line in your hand."
Some things don’t change. At that fire, Scotts Valley was assisted by the Department of Forestry, Scott said. Now, Cal Fire still would respond—automatically for a wildfire and if requested for any other fire or rescue operation.
The district built a new main station in 1962, just up Erba Lane from the Scotts Valley Drive station, and one on Sims Road to serve the southern end of the district. More recently, the Sims station was closed and a new station built on Glenwood Drive.
Ultimately, district officials plan to build a third station on La Madrona Drive, but three bond measures to finance construction have failed at the polls by slim margins. The idea remains in limbo, with the district-owned site now vacant.
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