Historically Jeffco:
"In 1948, a volunteer bucket brigade lost the Will o' the Wisp restaurant down Highway 285 to fire. That spurred a group of determined men of the area to found the Elk Creek Fire [Department]. The same year, two of them, Rudy and Harlan Long, sons of pioneer Charles Long and partners in Long Brothers Garage at today's Kings Valley exit, provided the land for $10. Volunteers built the white fire house with its two wide doors on the hill across the street, a landmark for everyone leaving town for an outing in the mountains.

There was also the question of getting medical help to the ill, or, in a more severe case, getting a sick person to a hospital in time for help. In 1950, May and Rudolf Long were confronted with that problem, when there was no ambulance to transport their ill mothers to a hospital, where they would receive needed care. As true pioneers, they started their own service and soon became known as Mr. and Mrs. Red Cross of the Mountains. For many years, their ambulance service would be the only one between Denver and Salida. When, in 1963, a new house for the Elk Creek Fire Station #1 was built near Richmond Hill, the Longs bought back the original fire house for $10 and out of it began to conduct their ambulance services. They retired from ambulance service in 1978.

In 1999, the Elk Creek Fire Station #1 fire house was declared eligible to be listed in the National Register for Historic Places. It was designated a Jefferson County Historic Landmark in 2004.”

Sadly, that station was destroyed by an out-of-control semi-tractor trailer in 2007.

Source: https://historicjeffco.files.wordpress.com/2013/02/2007histjeffco.pdf