Fire Station 6

Northampton

1221 Todds Lane

Hampton, VA

Northampton Volunteer Fire Company History

The Northampton Volunteer Fire Company was organized in 1954 by members of the Wythe District Fire Department.  In April 1955, the company moved into its first and only fire station at 1221 Todds Lane.  A 1943 General 750 gallon pumper was placed into service at that time and in 1959 a 1940 Diamond “T”, 500 gallon pumper was added to the station.  Northampton Volunteer Rescue Squad was organized in July 1959. Squad members converted a 1960 Chevrolet station wagon and placed it in service in Jan 1969 and by 1963 a second Chevrolet station wagon had gone in service.  In 1962 an addition was built to the station to house the Northampton Volunteer Rescue Squad ambulances.

When the station first opened it was staffed by two engineers that were hired to bring the equipment to the volunteer firefighters at the fire scene.  They were F.T. “Tommy” Clark, Jr., who owns Clark’s Feed and Seed down the street from the station and E.J. “Minnow” Walton, Jr., who later retired as a Captain from the Hampton Division of Fire & Rescue.  The volunteer company was under the direction of Chief J.R. Edwards.

Since its formation the Northampton Volunteer Fire Company has had 12 Chiefs.  They are:  J.R. Edwards, J. Parks, R. McBride, C. Castle, D. Boyd, D. Barnett,

 B. Burns, P. Stockton, C. Ziegler, J. Topping Jr., R. Price and our current Chief W.M. Keller.  Many of our Chiefs have served multiple terms of office.

 Fire company membership is generally between 25 and 30 members.  In addition to structural firefighting certifications, many of our members have attained specialty certifications such as Vehicle Extrication, LP Gas emergencies and elevator emergencies.  As emergency medical services are now a large part of the fire service many of our members have also obtained certifications ranging from EMT Basic through EMT Paramedic.

Northampton District is bounded to the west by the City of Newport News and east, north and south by adjacent fire districts in the City of Hampton.  Current career staffing consists of 1 officer and 5 medic firefighters per shift.  The district includes over 400 businesses, 5 schools, 29 churches and 1 nursing home.

The station is completely staffed by the fire company for one 24 hour period each month (normally the second Saturday).  The company also augments the career staff and places our apparatus in service each Thursday evening from 6 to 10 pm.  At all other times the company responds to the station for working incidents as directed by the Emergency Dispatch system.

The Northampton Ladies Auxiliary was formed to support the Fire Company.  The Auxiliary assists in providing rehabilitation services to include food and drinks to Hampton Fire Division units on large emergency scenes.  The auxiliary also assists in coordinating social events, civic activities and many public assistance activities for the fire company.

The Northampton Volunteer Fire Company operates out of the Hampton Division of Fire and Rescue’s Station #6, at 1221 Todds Lane.  The company is currently housed in the Northampton Volunteer Fire Company auxiliary building adjacent to the station.  

Apparatus operated by the Northampton Volunteer Fire Company are:

2009 Pierce Quantum 1500gpm pumper

1997 Freightliner Support Truck with air cascade system

2012 ATV with a firelight 50gpm pump