A massive blaze north of the Tomah Road campgrounds in 1963 provided the impetus to form a Fire Department in Larkspur. Difficulty in fighting the fire, at times out-of-control, brought the need to prevent a similar occurrence to the forefront of everyone's mind.

     The whole community came together and said, "Let's form a fire department." A committee was formed at a meeting at the school armed with nothing more than a desire to form a Fire Department.

     Following incorporation and an election, the next order of business was to find some equipment. What equipment the department had was positively medieval - a chemical tank on a cart, pulled by two or more men.

     Thus began a saga that resembled old reruns of the Keystone Cops. The first fire truck - an old Forest Reject from Fort Collins - was a 4x4 military pickup mounted with a 200 gallon tank. It took an entire day to get it from Fort Collins to Larkspur because it broke down all the way home.

     Funding was nonexistent, so monies for the truck were obtained through a note. A parcel of ground for a station to house their find was donated. Borrowed money was also used to build the fire station.

   Fire Department personnel presented a unique challenge. Early each morning the townsmen left for work, leaving their young brides left behind to tend the hearth. What those women ended up tending, however, were other people's house fires. In fact, the women and one elderly gentleman were the first to fight a fire with the new truck. All the men were working and they had a hard time trying to figure out where all the gears were and how to start the motor, but they usually got the fire out one way or another.

     Despite such humorous happenings, few structures were lost during the Department's history. One building burned down back in the old cart days because the cart had flat tires, and the men couldn't get it there fast enough. An outbuilding burned to the ground under bizarre circumstances. The fun-loving big hearted firemen were having a benefit in Castle Rock to help a neighbor repair his home after a fire. When the fire call came in, no one was in any shape to play firefighter. That one burned to the ground.

     From those beginnings, the Larkspur Fire Department District has grown from just a few people in the community to a 40 person strong department of which all have Fire Fighter I and II State Certifications and many of them hold EMT-B, EMT-I and EMT-P State Certifications as well as many other certifications offered through the state. The Department has gone from an all volunteer to a paid staff/volunteer department and is headed up by a Chief, EMS Chief and a Fire Marshal.

     The old fire house consisted of a 3 bay building that eventually grew to 6 bays through expansion and a meeting room was constructed above where the old roof was. Today we operate out of 3 individual stations within the district which covers 109 square miles of Douglas County's southwest corner including Perry Park, Greenland and Bald Mountain.

     No longer is the district dependent upon donations and fund raisers as in the old days. This fire district was officially formed in 1974, ensuring tax dollars to keep the wheels rolling. Over $ 150,000.00 in bonds were issued at that time.

     I think our little district has become very financially sound.