Duck Fire Department: Evolving to meet the needs of the town it serves

Duck Fire photos

Duck Fire Department members, from left, Deputy Fire Chief Trey Batschelet, Christian Dick, Brandon Boyd, Duck Fire Chief Donna Black and Cameron Whitaker.

To say the area around the village of Duck has changed in recent years could be an understatement.

Little more than a name on a map prior to the 1970s, the area was of little interest to anyone other than avid hunters or fishermen. That changed when NC 12 was paved and visitors crossing the Wright Memorial Bridge began venturing north. With the influx of people came rapid growth to the sleepy little village of only a few hundred houses. As population numbers steadily grew, local residents soon realized Duck needed its own fire department.

It was in the fall of 1982 that a small group gathered to organize a fire department.

by Philip S. Ruckle Jr.

Duck Fire photos

Above: Firefighters direct a water stream into the window of the Buxton Fire Training Building during a training exercise. Left:

Duck Fire Chief Donna Black gives firefighters instructions during the training excercise

Don Meadows was named the department’s first chief. With seed money provided by Dare County, local residents built the station themselves and held fundraisers to help pay for the department’s fire trucks.

In 1988, the department had a paid chief and 23 volunteers. Together they answered 30 calls with a GMC equipment step van, two 1,000 gallon/minute pumpers and a 4x4 International brush truck donated by North Carolina Power.

With continued growth, Duck has since become an incorporated community of more than 2,200 homes and has a yearround population of 520 that swells to more than 25,000 during peak season months.

There is, however, a lot more to Duck Fire than the popular Duck Fire T-Shirt Shop. The department responds to between 500 and 600 emergency medical, fire suppression, automobile accident and ocean rescue calls a year. Meeting the increased demands, the fire department’s arsenal has grown to now include considerably more heavy duty fire power: a ladder truck, two engine pumpers, a brush truck, a utility truck and two command vehicles.

There has also been a gradual change in the people answering those calls. Still maintaining a pool of volunteers, Duck has now become a combination department with a full crew of paid career firefighters.

“One big difference is that in the early years, everyone lived here,” explained Duck Fire Chief Donna Black. “Many of the people in the department lived here and worked in town, so if there was a fire call they closed up shop and responded.”

Black went on to say that as the town grew, especially with incorporation in 2002, the year round population dwindled and those that are here are more in the retirement age range.

While firefighters still have a wide range of ages, according to a February 2020 National Fire Protection Association report, 50 percent of the estimated 1,115,000 career and vol unteer firefighters in the United States are between 30 and 49 years old.

“So we don’t have the population at the firefighting age to draw from in order to maintain what we started with in the ‘80s,” she added. “Also, the cost of living just to be in Duck is high.”

Duck still has close to two dozen fire department volunteers, but now there is also paid staff of a full time chief, deputy chief, a dozen paid career staff firefighters and three or four paid part time firefighters. Black has also requested that the Town of Duck fund two more full time firefighters.

“We still utilize volunteers,” Black said. “Only today, they are support personnel outside the burning building. They’re in an effective support role performing important functions because they can throw ladders and can pull lines. They’re just not running into a burning building.”

One thing that has not changed over the years is a relationship with the United States Army Corps of Engineers.

Although Duck Fire built and owns the fire station building, the land it sits on is federal government property.

“We have a very strong relationship with the Army Corps of Engineers,” said Black. “We have had a lease with the Department of the Army since 1982 and are working with them now to build a modern public safety building.”

A new building is not the only change on the horizon.

Black, one of less than 60 female fire chiefs in the U.S., is currently serving as International Association of Fire Chiefs Board of Directors second vice-president. Next year she will move up to first vice-president and then to president of the nationwide association.

Not bad for someone who started as a volunteer, worked their way through the ranks as both a paid and volunteer firefighter, and was named fire chief for the Town of Duck in 2006.

“Our mission is to safeguard the lives and property within the Town of Duck,” said Black. “We aim to reduce the effects of natural or man-made disasters through education, fire prevention and suppression, and emergency medical responses.”

Like other area fire departments, the door at Duck Fire is always open for qualified individuals willing to serve as a volunteer firefighter. For more information about Duck Fire Department or the roles that can be filled by volunteers, call 252-261-3929. 

Duck Fire photos

Firefighters in full turnout gear access the roof of a building from an aerial ladder platform.