Department Info

Prior to 1972, Greenville’s fire protection was the shared responsibility between the towns of Hortonville and Ellington.  Sometime during the mid-1960’s, Greenville residents decided that it was taking too long for the fire department to respond to any fire and they decided to get the ball rolling for their own fire department.  Bids for a new building to house fire equipment were requested in 1967 and by 1969, Greenville had its very own fire barn.  The first piece of apparatus we had was a 1948 model that was purchased from Hortonville during the transition to a separate department.  The department finally went solo in 1972, operating as a separate entity with Norbert Sigl as the first appointed fire chief.  Initially, the fire chief would get the call for help and he in turn would call another fire-fighter who then would call others and give the details of the fire call.  Over the years we have progressed with new trucks, equipment, and many new faces on the department.  Today our department roster is authorized to carry up to 55 firefighters and officers.  Our EMS first responder group is a separate entity but still under the supervision of the fire chief.  The group consists of 16 first responders, some of whom work double-duty as firefighters.  In 2023, the fire department/first responders responded to 782 Fire/EMS calls.  

Currently, the Greenville Fire Department protection district covers over 36 square miles which includes a diverse community of business, industry and residential subdivisions along with a number of rural farms.  Several business and industrial parks are home to many large companies such as Amazon, Federal Express, Gulfstream, School Specialties, Cintas, and Plexus not to mention the Appleton International Airport, the fourth largest airport in Wisconsin.  The Village of Greenville has undergone a period of vigorous growth since 1990 adding many new retail businesses, restaurants, medical and dental clinics over the past few years.  The residential housing boom has expanded our population. 

Fire Department General Information

The Greenville Fire Department is comprised of approximately 55 firefighters and officers plus 16 EMS-first responders.  We have (3) full-time Fire Fighter/First Responders and our paid on call members receive a stipend for each call attended.  The State of Wisconsin classifies fire departments into 3 basic categories:  career, combination and volunteer departments.  A career fire department is one that 100% of the members are full or part-time paid employees.  A combination department is one that is made up of full, part-time, but relies on “paid-on-call” or volunteer members to compliment staffing.  Volunteer departments are predominantly made up of volunteers, and “paid-on-call” members.

Personnel

All candidates hired are required to successfully complete approximately 100 hours of classroom training   and earning State of Wisconsin Firefighter I certification.  This training, which includes structural firefighting, rescue skills and hazardous material awareness, is taught at various Technical Colleges in conjunction with the NFPA 1001 standard (Standard for firefighter professional qualifications).  Many firefighters go on to take classes for enhanced qualifications such as Firefighter II, Driver/Operator-Pumper, Fire Officer and Fire Inspector.  Even though we train as a department at least twice each month, there are many additional outside training opportunities that some firefighters take advantage of on their own personal time to stay on the cutting edge of technology and tactics.  Having these individuals willing to go above and beyond demonstrates their dedication and leadership that is such an asset to the Greenville Fire Department

 “Ours is a serious job,

                  Take what we do seriously,

                                    Train like it’s real,

                                                      Be Safe and Have Fun”

Command Staff

Firefighters/First Responders