Our History

Mud Tavern's first organized fire department meeting was in January of 1975, with the help of the Alabama Forestry Commission the department was organzied and recieved it's first truck donated by the AFC. We had to collect funds to outfit the first fire truck with dues collected from each member and donations from members of the community and a monthly bingo fund raiser. A member of the communty donated 1 acre of land for Mud Tavern to build its first station, a two bay 22x30 fiberglass building which was built by the current members of the department and completed on Oct. 1, 1976.

This station served as primary station for Mud Tavern until 1990 when we purchased the land where the current station 1 is built. We recieved our first ISO rating of a 9/9 in June 1983 and maintained that untill approx 2000 when reclassified to a 6/9. In Oct of 1976 the department inventory consisted of the following:

• 1 1966 Ford 1-ton truck
• 1 1952 GMC 2 1/2-ton army truck
• 10 hp pump, 200 ft 1.5" hose, 50ft 2.5" hose, 300 ft. 1 in. hose, 2 nozzles, 2 10lb extinguishers, 4 rakes, 4 flaps, 3 shovels, 1 axe, 30ft ladder, 2 5 gal backpacks, 2 fire coats, 1 flashlight, 1 siren, and 1 radio

Initally the Chief would carry the radio and when alerted to a fire the wife would start calling other members of the department to notify them of the emergency. As funds came available and technology advanced over the years more radios and pagers were added till there was no longer a need to call over landlines. Mud Tavern Fire Rescue was incorporated in 1983. Throughout the years Mud Tavern upgraded equipment mostly from donations and used equipment purchased from other agencies until 1996 when it purchased its first new apparatus, which is our Engine 162 at present. We now operate with tax money distrubuted through the MCAVFD.

Circa 1975

Circa 1989

Circa 1996