The East Columbus Independent Fire Department (ECIFD) was organized in
1942, and provided primary fire protection to the area incorporated as
East Columbus. In 1948, this area was annexed into the City of Columbus
and the department switched from urban response to rural response.
ECIFD has provided primary fire response to as many
as nine of the townships in Bartholomew County. One of the first Chiefs,
Dale Greenlee, promoted volunteer firefighting and helped form most of
the volunteer fire departments in the county.
Originally, the fire engines were built by the
volunteer firefighters and were stored at the Arthur Givens Truck
Company. Dale Greenlee lived at 51 South Cherry street. Dale or his wife
would receive calls for fires and would sound a fire siren in their yard
to alert the firefighters.
In 1945, ECIFD built its first fire station at 2001
State Street (on the corner of State and Mapleton). ECIFD responded from
that station for 27 years.
Click here for
pictures from 1957 of that station.
In 1972, Irwin Union bank purchased the State Street
station for development as a bank. A fire station was built at 770
South Marr Road. This station had room for five vehicles, a
meeting room, an office, and a kitchen. The station operated out
of this station for over 30 years, but the size of the station became
too small for newer apparatus and for training requirements.
In 2003, a new station was completed at 935 Repp
Drive. The station provides a larger facility with a dedicated
training room, bunker gear room, larger apparatus bay, backup generator,
firefighter lounge, extrication training area, and additional parking.
The new station also has additional space that has been leased to the
Red Cross and an architectural firm. The leased space provides some
additional income that is being used to pay for the cost of the station.
In 2005, a second station was purchased at 4630
Progress Drive. This second station serves the properties located
in the North and West portions of Columbus Township as well as mutual
aid to the adjoining fire departments. This station provides a
firefighter lounge, kitchen, and apparatus bay.
The stations were named in the fall of 2005 to
Station 221 (Repp Drive) and Station 222 (Progress Drive) to easily
identify which station was being referred to with several other fire
departments operating a second station.
At the beginning of 2006, space is both Station 221
and 222 where leased by Columbus Regional Hospital to house a 24 hour
ambulance and crew. The second floor of Station 221 was
finished to provide the crews sleeping quarters, and Station 222 has
some modifications to also provide quarters.
