Fire History

Redlands Hose Company No. 1 was organized on Saturday, April 27th, 1889, with Ralph Levy as Foreman. The fire station at 525 E. Citrus (Citrus and Redlands Boulevard) was opened in June, 1948, replacing the old station which had been located at Central and Redlands Boulevard. Fire Station 261 is the only remaining station in the Inland Empire, and one of the few in the State, that still houses a "fire pole" to slide down to get to the apparatus floor. In 1965, the City's second Fire Station was placed into service on the south side of Redlands, located at 1690 Garden Street. In June, 1985, Fire Station No. 3 opened its doors at 10 W. Pennsylvania, providing quicker response and paramedic service to north Redlands.

In June of 1991, Mel Enslow became Fire Chief. Under Chief Enslow's direction the fire department has established Shift Battalion Chiefs, opened an additional paramedic unit, added a cost recovery and investigation unit, created hazardous materials and water rescue teams, replaced many of the aging fire apparatus with reliable state of the art equipment, improved medical response times to our south side residents, directs all city disaster services, implemented numerous award-winning public education programs, and has increased the City fire prevention activities and programs which have resulted in a notable drop in fires and related damage.