The Newport Fire Department is a combination department with 21 career positions and 18 volunteers on our roster. We respond to an average 2,400 calls per year serving 17,000 citizens in a 75 square mile response area. We operate on a 48/96 schedule, provide ALS level EMS treatment and transport, and began staffing our second Station in July, 2024. The Department has earned a North Carolina Department of Insurance Fire District Rating of 3 within the Town limits and a 4 in the unincorporated arear of our jurisdiction.
The Town of Newport, formerly known as Shepardsville in the late 18th century, was chartered in 1866. By 1911, the Town had a loosely-established Fire Brigade of “neighbors helping neighbors” with a hand drawn chemical engine. After an entire block burned down on Easter Day 1940, the soda shop burned down in 1942, and in 1944 another block which included the telephone office, the liquor store, the café, and Hatch and David’s store burned down the Mayor ordered a fire truck in 1946 and by 1947 the Town’s Fire Brigade evolved into what is now the Newport Fire Department.
By 1949, the Newport Fire Department was the third designated “Rural Fire Association” in North Carolina. In 1954, NFD had the first tanker in this part of the State, 1955 brought the first two-way radios, and 1956 ushered in the first Rescue Squad in Carteret County (the Ambulance was technically owned by the Boy Scouts of America). In 1961, the department’s members donated materials and thousands of man hours to construct the present-day Fire Station. Also in 1961, Carteret County established a Fire Tax and contracted with the Town of Newport to provide fire protections services to the residents in the unincorporated jurisdiction. In 1963, a second Ambulance was purchased to replace the first one and in 1966 the Town purchased the first “fully equipped” Fire Truck. As the Town grew and more resources were acquired, the first paid Firefighter/EMT’s began in 1993.
The Department is proudly supported by the Newport Volunteer Fire and Rescue Association.