December 13, 1946

“After several consecutive fires in and around our community,it was decided that Port Gibson should have a Fire Department of its own.”

(Forward, Book 1 of Secretary’s Minutes, January 1, 1947)

The Port Gibson Volunteer Fire Department, Inc. had its beginning in an organizational meeting in December of 1946 after a series of fires in our community. It was incorporated in June 1947.

Port Gibson is located in the most northern tip of Ontario County, in central New York State, and borders the Erie Canal at the section of the Canal known as the Wide Waters.

We continue to serve a rural fire district in the Township of Manchester, Ontario County and the neighboring Township of Palmyra, Wayne County. The Port Gibson fire district covers mostly single and multiple family dwellings; manufactured home parks, family owned farms, a trucking terminal and some small businesses, a local church that is listed on the New York State Historical Site Register, and cottages and homes on the south shore line of the Erie Canal.

Our fire district comprises over 25 square miles with a population of more than 2500 residents. We respond to requests for fires, EMS incidents, motor vehicle accidents, water rescues, search and rescues in our district, and mutual aid requests from 13 surrounding local fire departments and communities, with automatic mutual aid response agreements with three of those departments.

Our station is located at 2939 Greig St. on the corner of Greig Street and Atwater Street(Co. Rd. #7) in Port Gibson.