Greenbackville VFD – Apparatus Profile
by Mike Sanders

The Greenbackville VFD is located along the Eastern Shore of Virginia in Accomack County. Greenbackville is not far from Chincoteague Island and NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility. Mutual aide calls to Maryland are common as Greenbackville borders the Maryland state line. This Virginia department runs calls with a variety of fire departments in Worcester County Maryland, including Stockton, Pocomoke City, Girdletree, and Snow Hill.

Organized in 1956, the department’s first engine was a 1938 International purchased from Lombarde Beach, Maryland. The unique apparatus at Greenbackville was my main reason for making a quick visit to the department….and I was not disappointed.

Not only was I impressed with the apparatus, but also impressed how clean and well maintained they are. Greenbackville operates a single engine, ladder truck, tanker, rescue squad, brush, two ambulances, and a utility.

Engine 2-3 is a 1989 Pierce Lance equipped with a top mount pump panel. It has a 1250 gallon per minute pump and carries 1000 gallons of water.

Truck 2 was purchased in 2002 and previously ran from Des Moines, Iowa as their Ladder 7. It is a 1978 Duplex/Pierce/LTI equipped with 100’ rearmount ladder and a 1500 gallon per minute pump. The nearby community of “Captain’s Cove” helped provide funding to purchase the ladder truck.

Big water is handled by Tanker 2-7 which is an older 1978 Ford 800 that was rebuilt in 1986 by LTI with a new tanker body. Tanker 2-7 has a front mount 750 gallon per minute pump and carries 3000 gallons of water. It also has a 3000 gallon folding tank stored in a compartment on the driver side. Prior to being rebuilt in 1986 by LTI, Tanker 2-7 had a Sanford body with a 3,800 gallon water tank.

My favorite at Greenbackville is the unique Rescue 2. St. Louis, Missouri originally took delivery of a red 1968 Seagrave 800-KC that has a squad body built by Welch. From St. Louis the squad was sold to Blades, Delaware, where it ran as Rescue 71-6. It was repainted white with lime while at Blades. In 2002, Greenbackville purchased the squad from Blades and had the lime portion repainted to red. Rescue 2 is equipped with a variety of equipment, including a four bottle air cascade system.

Brush 2 is a well maintained 1989 GMC Sierra 3500 that has a Slagle’s skid mount package installed. It was purchased by the department in 2000.

Ambulance duties are handled by Ambulance 2-1 and 2-2. Ambulance 2-1 is Greenbackville’s newest delivery and is a 2008 GMC 4500 built by Horton. This ambulance also arrived in Greenbackville’s new colors of charcoal gray over red. Ambulance 2-2 is a 2000 Ford F/MedTec.

Finally, Utility 2-9 is a 1998 Ford Crown Victoria that was placed into service in 2008.

My thanks to Greenbackville Fire Department President Brian Justice who arranged to have the apparatus photographed at a local marina on very short notice. Also, the department has a nice web page at www.greenbackvillefire.com.