City’s first fire chief speaks at station groundbreaking

Thirty-eight years ago, when Maricopa was a farming town, Donald N. Pearce started an all-volunteer fire department, eventually becoming the community’s first fire chief.

Thursday Pearce was the keynote speaker at the groundbreaking for the Heritage District fire station to bear his name, the Donald N. Pearce Fire Station 575. 

The station, which will include a community room and an exterior that nods to the city’s train-stop heritage, is a far cry from the first fire station Pearce helped to build.

That station was a community effort. 

“We hired people to do part of the station and the rest of it was done by volunteers of the community,” Pearce said. 

The sheetrock was hung in six hours by a resident who volunteered for the job and turned down any help.

Later, Pearce donated $1,000 of his own to buy “a little truck” and members of the community scraped together the other $1,000 needed with donations of $10 here, $50 there.

“That’s the kind of support we had back then,” Pearce said. “But we used that little truck and we put out a lot of fires.” 

The new station, designed by HDA Architects and built by FCI Construction, will be “a real gem” in a revitalized Heritage District, Mayor Christian Price said.

Maricopa Fire Chief Wade Brannon said the fire station wouldn’t just be a place for on-shift firemen to work, but a community resource.

“Our fire station puts our firemen next door to our citizens,” Brannon said. “It will be a resource for citizens, a safe place and a gathering place.”

Vice Mayor Ed Farrell, who grew up in Maricopa with Pearce’s daughters as his babysitters, described Pearce fondly and as a committed steward of the community.

Farrell shared his memory of a large Christmas tree Pearce donated to the school each year.

“(Pearce) could be depended upon to watch over the community, and that’s how our first fire station came to be,” Farrell said. 

Farrell also said Pearce donated two parcels of land to the city so a fire department could be built in the subdivisions.

Maricopa Councilwoman Julia Gusse shared how Pearce had spearheaded efforts to bring the community its first public swimming pool through the Rotary Club. 

***ADVERTISEMENT***City Manager Brenda Fischer said the fire station is one of many city projects nearing completion, pointing out the planned city hall complex and Heritage District park (for which the city is still seeking a name) also are progressing.

“I just have one thing to say about this groundbreaking,” Fischer said. “Another trailer bites the dust.” Maricopa’s city hall and police department presently are located in large trailers.

Pearce said it was a “great honor” to have the city’s newest station named after him.

“I want to thank you for everything you’re doing for this new station,” Pearce said.