Department Facilities History

Fire Department Facilities

The Chowchilla Volunteer Fire Department started in its original location at the rear of the old City Hall and the Police Department building at 145 Robertson Boulevard. This department operated out of that facility sharing space with the Madera County Fire Department until the department added more equipment, and the County Fire Station relocated to 15th Street near Robertson Boulevard.

With Chowchilla’s growth and the need for more space for Police, Fire, and City Hall services, the City partnered with Madera County and built a new facility on Trinity Avenue for Police, Sheriff, and Court services as well as a shared City and County Fire location. All of the occupants moved into this new facility around 1976.

Fire Station Built in 1998

With the later need for the Police Department to expand further, the City built a new Fire Station at 240 North First Street in 1998. This allowed the Volunteer Fire Department to have its own facility and gave the Police Department the much-needed space for its growth.

The Chowchilla Volunteer Fire Department moved into its new location in December 1999. The station was designed to be easily expandable, capable of housing all current fire equipment, and includes space that can be converted to living quarters at such time the City requires full-time firefighters. The station also accommodates local ambulance crews as needed.

Current Projects

The department is currently working on an expansion project at Station 1, which would create a training room and add extra bays to house the Fire Prevention Trailer, Mobile Command Post, and a reserve fire engine.

Long-Term Goals

As the City experiences growth, the plan is to add full-time firefighters to assist our volunteers and also add new strategically placed fire stations to serve the City. The next planned addition is a second station in the area of Robertson Boulevard and Fig Tree Road. The addition of this station will provide a timely emergency services response to the Greenhills community, the Reagan Elementary School, as well as future neighborhood developments east of SR 99 and the railroad tracks. This placement will help reduce response times to the east side of the City due to passing trains.