City View and Talley’s Crossing Fire Departments - Services Eastern Forsyth County, NC, including the municipalities of Winston-Salem and Kernersville and directly providing services to the Town of Walkertown.
Fire protection in the rural areas of most counties across the United States was nearly non-existent prior to World War II due to the lack of improved roads, lack of water systems and telephone networks. Many of our communities witnessed home, farms, schools and churches burn to the ground due to no available fire department. Fire was also a prime weapon during the War and those involved in the war effort home and abroad saw the need for better fire protection in all communities. Development of firefighting techniques of the Navy made it possible to fight fire with smaller quantities of water that could be hauled to the scene in tanker trucks and expansion of phone systems made it possible for rural residents to call a fire department. The results were communities creating volunteer fire departments and thus did the communities of City View in 1949 and Talley’s Crossing in 1954. Both departments worked side by side throughout the years responding to calls, conducting fund raisers and improving service levels through training, equipment modernization and manpower programs.
In 1998 the Boards of both Departments saw an advantage of merging the operations to handle the growing communities and needs of our fire districts buffering the municipalities of Winston-Salem and Kernersville and directly providing services to the Town of Walkertown. Today a group of dedicated Volunteer members operating 2 fire stations respond to a variety of fire, rescue, medical, hazardous conditions and public service calls. The Department maintains a PPC Insurance grade of 4/9S that saves most property owners more money per year in premiums than they pay in fire tax. The Volunteer members save the citizens over $600,000.00 each year in salary savings due to volunteering their time to train, maintain equipment and responding to calls. The needs and demands on the members and organization continue to change each year but the one thing that remains constant is the dedication of members and their willingness to help their fellow neighbor.
