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| Station Number #51 | Companies Assigned | |
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200 South St. Augustine Road
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Engine 51
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Rescue 51
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Boat 51
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updated
04/12/2008
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| When Station #51 opened May 22, 1964, its fire district was small. The
City of Dallas then annexed portions of the county. With this annexation,
Station #51's first alarm district more than doubled its size. The land for Station #51 was purchased from Bill Kissinger whose family traveled to Texas in covered wagons and settled on the land that is now along St. Augustine Road. Mr. Kissinger is a frequent visitor to Station #51; firefighters enjoy his stories of "the good ole' days." His house sits a few hundred yards from the fire station where he "keeps an eye" on the firefighters. A beige brick, two and one half bay station with a fallout shelter, contains 7,680 square feet. For some of its most interesting runs, the engine crew never left the station. Although many firefighters have delivered babies on duty, few babies actually have been born in the fire station. In January 1983, a woman in the last stages of labor, and her entire family, walked into the station. Quickly assessing the situation, C shift firefighters made the woman as comfortable as possible on the watch room bed and called for an MICU. It quickly became apparent the baby would arrive before the MICU, so firefighters rolled the bed into the bedroom for more privacy. There Jerry "Zip" Crawford became "doctor in charge" and delivered a healthy baby boy. Later the same year, a man walked into the station requesting his cat be rescued. The cat was not in a tree, but in a vacuum cleaner. Through the years, Station #51 has answered many different types of fires. Although most of the first alarm district is residential and light commercial, one of the largest fires answered by Station #51 was on April 19, 1973 at the Groco Paint Company, 10804 Hawn Freeway-a fire answered as mutual aid. The longest run made by Station #51 firefighters was a mutual aid call: the engine made a 27 mile round-trip to Kaufman to assist in extinguishment of a gasoline tanker truck fire. B shift Captain O. A. Ardoin has spent much of his DFD career at #51, arriving there April 16, 1970. One of his efforts to improve life at the station is seen just outside the kitchen window, where he planted six pecan trees. |
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