Our Stanford station came to life on July 25th, 1986 after purchasing the property from Lowell Sparks. Prior to the departments purchase the land was used the site of an auto service center and black smith shop owned by Russell and Chester Sparks, the father and uncle of Lowell. The property was cleared of the buildings in order to accommodate the new fire station. Station 19 was dedicated to the memory of former Van Buren Fire Chief Jan Dawes.

Nearly 20 years after the dedication of Station 19, Van Buren Fire Department was able to make the long awaited upgrades to bring the station up to 2006 standards. In the Spring of 2006 VBFD formed a steering committee to address the changes VBFD would go through in the next 5 years. The committee, with the help and approval of Van Buren Township Trustee Gary Bruce, began the renovations to station 19 in May 2006. Work on the 19’ x 22’ addition began on May 2nd, 2006 and completed on June 26th, 2006. All of the preparations, construction and finish work were done by Van Buren firefighters ultimately saving the citizens of Van Buren Township $46,000 in labor costs. Total cost for the project was $24,456.

On Sunday August 27th Van Buren Township Fire Department Station 19 opened its newly remodeled doors to the Stanford Community with an open house and dedication. The west hall of the newly remodeled sleeping quarters was dedicated to the Stanford Community and its citizens who have worked in and raised their families in Stanford making it a town full of happy memories.

-Fire Chief Tim Deckard-