Prior to 1940, fire protection in South Daytona was handled by the Daytona Beach Fire Department. Then on March 15, 1940 a group of individuals, with the blessing of the South Daytona City Council, formed the South Daytona Volunteer Fire Department. Membership was limited to a maximum of twenty members and they received no monetary compensation for attending meetings or responding to calls.

The first piece of fire equipment consisted of an old military surplus 4 X 4 and an old water tank. In 1957, the City Council approved the purchase of a new Seagrave Pumper with a 500-gallon tank on a Ford chassis. The volunteer association acquired and refurbished a used Chevy step van to use as one of the area’s first Rescue Squad units. With the agreement of the area fire chiefs, this unit would respond to the surrounding cities of Port Orange, New Smyrna, Holly Hill, and Ormond Beach. This was the beginning of Mutual Aid.

Up until 1969, the fire department was totally volunteer. It was then that the City Council approved the hiring of three full time firefighters. The South Daytona Volunteer Fireman’s Association still played an active part. One of the full time firefighters was appointed as a Lieutenant to oversee the operations.

April of 1973, the City Council created a Department of Public Safety. The Police Chief oversaw the operations of both the Police and Fire Departments. That ordinance was repealed in June of 1977.

In 1979, the South Daytona Fire Departments started providing their citizens with a Basic Life Support (BLS), AND Rescue service with trained Emergency Medical Technicians (EMT’s).

In 1999, the department upgraded its level of service to Advanced Life Support (ALS) Rescue Service.

In October 2016, Fire Commander Dave Giles was appointed Fire Chief.  He retired after 30 years of service in March 2023.  A few well-known accomplishments of Chief Giles includes Fire Department Movie in the Park Events, smoke detector awareness events, as well as over 14 grants totaling almost one-million dollars for the City including most recently a new Fire Truck in 2019, Vehicle Exhaust Removal System in 2021, and Fire Bunker Gear Extractor in 2022.
  
John Brant was appointed Fire Chief in April 2023.  He comes from LaGrange Fire Department where he served as Chief since 2018.
The City is always interested in any old photos of our fire department from any past member or our citizens. Please contact Becky at bwitte@southdaytona.org or 386-322-3014 for more information.