On April 27, 1982, the voters of the Town of Lake City approved the formation of the Lake City Area Fire Protection District.  E. Craig Graham, Gary Wysocki, James W. Dyson, Richard Terry Hall and Robert E. Hall were designated as the District’s first Board of Directors.  Lively balloting resulted in 77 votes being cast in favor of the new taxing district and 20 votes being cast in opposition.  A mill levy of 4.0 was also approved.

After spending the rest of 1982 performing necessary legal and administrative functions, the Lake City Area Fire Protection District assumed the operations of the Lake City Volunteer Fire Department on January 1, 1983.

On November 1, 1987, after several years of hard work and investment by both the Lake City Area Fire Protection District and Lake City Area Water & Sanitation District, the District’s ISO rating was upgraded from a Class 10 (unprotected) to a Class 7/9.  This resulted in an almost immediate reduction of 30% or more in insurance premiums being paid by most District taxpayers.  On January 21, 2002, the District’s ISO rating was further upgraded to a Class 6/9.

The new fire station at 131 Henson Street was dedicated in July of 1993.  Using a generous donation of land and cash from Pete and Bobbie Petersen, in addition to grant funding and the proceeds from a lease/purchase agreement, the Lake City Area Fire Protection District built Lake City’s first stand alone fire station.

Today, the fire station houses modern fire apparatus and related equipment.  Our volunteer firefighters undergo rigorous training and are provided with NFPA compliant personal gear.  Efforts are once again underway to improve the ​District’s ISO rating.

The formation of a taxing entity was first discussed by the Lake City Board of Trustees early in 1980. The Trustees had identified an opportunity to significantly improve the community’s “fire rating” (i.e. ISO rating) by establishing a special taxing district to provide funding to upgrade equipment and train and equip volunteer firefighters.

Many discussions and meetings about the formation of a fire protection district occurred over the next two years. The original boundaries of the proposed district included all of tax areas 1, 2 and 4 in Hinsdale County – nearly all territory in Hinsdale County that lies north and west of the Continental Divide.   At one point, the new taxing district was envisioned as an "emergency services district" that would include not only fire protection, but emergency medical services and search and rescue as well.

However, concerns about limited funding and the ability of a new entity to provide multiple emergency services in such a large service area, lead the Town Trustees to undertake the formation of fire protection district whose boundary would be the corporate limits of the Town of Lake City. 

Since 1983, many properties lying outside the limits of the Town of Lake City have been included in the Fire Protection District by individual property owners who have requested it. This practice has resulted in a boundary map that looks much like a patchwork quilt.