The York Fire Department was established in 1916 following a disasterous fire at "The Marshall House" hotel, a large wooden seaside resort located where the "Stage Neck Colonies" condominiums are located presently.  At the time the only fire department in town was the York Beach Fire Department was the only Fire Protection for the entire town. It took the primitive apparatus from York Beach approximately 1/2 hour to reach the scene of the blaze in York Harbor. By the time the equipment arrived; there was little that could be done to save the place and it burned flat.

              Immediately following the Marshall House inferno, the York Village and Corner ever-ready volunteer fire company was established,  its first quarters were in a converted school house in York Village on the present day site of the York Village Fire Station.  The First Fire chief was elected to serve the newly organized fire company and Burt Newick was the man who was chosen to fulfill the position.

               It is documented that somewhere that around 1923 the "York Village and Corner ever-ready volunteer fire company" was re-organized to be called the York Volunteer Fire Department.  Membership in the early days was limited to men ages 21 and older and it is written that there was no trouble recruiting suitable candidates as it was speculated that  "it seemed as if three quarters of the town's eligible young men were becoming volunteer firefighters!"