The Florence Fire Protection District formed on October 14, 1953. When formed, the FFPD covered the communities of Florence, Penrose, Rockvale, Coal Creek, Williamsburg, and Brookside. The FFPD combined the volunteer fire departments into one district agency to respond to emergency fire calls in our communities. The benefits of combining these departments into one district was to ensure that all residents would have more resources to respond to emergencies and allow a revenue stream to fund our firefighters with needed equipment and resources.
Numerous changes have occurred over time within the Florence Fire Protection District. In 2007, the community of Brookside left the Florence Fire Protection District and became part of the Canon City Area Fire Protection District. At one time, the FFPD had five fire stations located within the district: one in each community. Due to membership levels in 2010, it was decided to combine the fire stations in Rockvale, Coal Creek, and Williamsburg into one station. Station 3 in Rockvale became the station to respond to these communities. In 2024, they moved into a new station located on County Road 85A, which sits in the middle of the three communities.
In 2022, the FFPD took over EMS from the volunteers; they have 2 staffed ambulances on duty 24/7. The same year, the FFPD hired 3 paid firefighters to assist the volunteers with daytime response to calls and assist with daily duties around the stations.
The following is a list of the District Fire Chiefs:
- Sam Bowman - 1953
- Charles Blankenship - 1956
- Dan Friend - 1963
- Jim Meyers - 1983
- Gene MacKinnon - 1991
- Calvin Sundermann - 2018
- Bill Ritter - 2020
