Augusta County established the first career/volunteer station in 1941 and named the station Augusta County Fire Department currently located on Richmond Road in Staunton. The original location for the department was in an old school bus garage, at the intersection of Richmond Road, Greenville Avenue and Commerce Road at the underpass in Staunton. The current location at 1026 Richmond Avenue, Staunton, VA was built in 1971. 

In 1941, the first paid fire chief for Augusta County was Chief E. H. Dabney; he was followed by Chief H. Hyde Kerr, Chief Harry Craig, in 1972 Chief Ron Garber took the position until September 2001 when he retired, Bruce Crow followed and he retired in 2009.  Chief of Fire-Rescue D. Carson Holloway served from 2009 to 2018.  Fire Rescue Chief David W. Nichols, served from 2019 to 2021.  Current Fire-Rescue Chief is M. Greg Schacht.

Augusta County Fire-Rescue currently has a total of 105 employees; 6 administrative positions, 4 training positions, and 95 operations positions. Over the past 15 years, the department has grown from a total of 18 employees to our current 105 positions.  Forty-one of these positions were added in 2014 (20) & 2016 (21) as the result of two SAFER grants (Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response). 

We continue to enjoy a strong partnership between our volunteer partners and the career staff to serve the citizens of Augusta County.