Silver City Firefighters awarded on Saturday (left to right): Paul Ortiz, promoted to lieutenant; Jerry O'Neal, named Firefighter of the Year; Tim Heidrick, recognized for 20 years of service after his retirement in March; Kylle Marshall, promoted to Fire Inspector II; and Roger Cruzan, promoted to Fire Inspector I. Also, six new firefighters were sworn in during the ceremony: Colton Allen, Jacob Andazola, Jason Davis, Jesse Blair, Justin Wombacher, and Vincent Gomez.Silver City – The Silver City Fire Department Saturday held its annual award ceremony on the lawn of the Silver City Museum – the site of the town's fire house for 40 years until 1970 when it was relocated to the present public safety building on Hudson Street. The occasion also celebrated the department's 50th anniversary as a full-time, professional fire department.

In his remarks, Fire Chief Milo Lambert reflected on the importance of marking half a century of professional fire service in Silver City. "I have been granted stewardship of a legacy," he said. "… A legacy of servitude and dedication to our community."

In announcing the annual firefighter awards, Chief Lambert discussed four components of a fire service career: compassion, professionalism, tradition and education. "Firefighters stand for all that is good," he said.

Assistant Fire Chief Jeff Fell shared the department's history, noting that Silver City purchased the first fire engine in the state in 1875, which was destroyed in October of 1884, when the Cohen Building, now home to Little Toad Creek Brewery, suffered $93,700 in damages when there were no volunteer firefighters available to respond to this major downtown fire, and little apparatus for fighting it. Apparently the truck was in poor condition, and arrived as the fire was nearly exhausted. A rowdy group of local jokesters began driving it up and down Bullard Street, as a crowd of onlookers cried, "burn it." So they drove the engine into the flames.

In 1887, the first fire station was built at the corner of Broadway and Arizona, then relocated to the H. B. Ailman House when city hall was relocated to its present location at Bullard and Broadway. The fire station went through many changes and iterations in its long history, until a full-time, professional fire department was created in 1967, the year that the Silver City Museum opened in the Ailman House.