The department was set up by an act of the Hall County Commission on December 14, 1970 after voters approved its creation.
Prior to that, fire protection in most places outside the City of Gainesville was by subscription only through a private department, Suburban Fire Department.
The first run was made a month later to a tractor-trailer with over-heated wheels on fire, according to the department's website. The department started with two trucks that had been purchase at a Sheriff's sale.
But there was a major bump in the road in the late 1970s when the county commission decided to disband the department and put fire protection in the hands of another private company, Rural Metro of Scottsdale, Arizona.
Controversy raged for months, ultimately leading to a recall of the entire commission and a return to a county-run fire department.
At the time the department was created in 1970, personnel were responsible only for fire calls. But it wasn't long before the county commission added ambulance service. Prior to that, the funeral homes in the county had provided that service.
http://accesswdun.com/article/2010/12/234514