MAXWELL, CA (MPG) – The tones still drop the same way they always have in Maxwell, sudden, sharp, and impossible to ignore, signaling a call that has defined this small Colusa County town for 100 years.
Someone leaves dinner half-finished. A ranch gate swings open. A pager sounds. And somewhere, a volunteer firefighter heads out the door.
On March 21, that rhythm paused. Families gathered at the Maxwell Fire Protection District’s Oak Street Station for a free community dinner to celebrate 100 years of service in a town where the fire department has never been far from home.
Fire Chief Kenneth Cohen looked out at the crowd, generations of firefighters and families, and pointed to a legacy that has never really left.
“Bill Barrett’s father was actually one of the founding members of the department,” Cohen said. “In 100 years, there’s always been a Barrett involved with this station.”
That continuity has defined Maxwell. The department’s earliest records trace back to 1926, when residents first met to organize fire protection for the town. Within a year, a formal roster of charter members appeared: Pete Riordan, Bill Yarbrough, Eugene Pence, Chris Lausten, Jack Atkins, Bill Williams, L.L. Barrett and others whose names still echo through Maxwell today.
Leadership shifted quickly in those early years. Atkins served as the first chief from 1927 to 1930, followed by Chas Ward and a succession of others as the department found its footing. By 1933, L.L. Barrett had taken the helm, beginning a six-year tenure that helped stabilize the young department.
Even then, the work stretched beyond fire suppression. In 1932, commissioners allotted $20 for first aid equipment, and Joe Riordan joined the department’s first aid team, an early sign of the medical role that would eventually define Maxwell Fire’s modern identity.
Service was not just tradition, it was inheritance. E.E. Barrett joined in 1933, and in 1942, 12‑year‑old Jack Barrett Sr. helped fill the wartime void, beginning a six‑decade run of his own.
By the 1950s, the department had a permanent home. The firehouse was built in 1955 at a cost of $55,000, the same decade that saw the purchase of a new International 1250 pumper and the rise of Marion Brown, who became chief in 1951 and whose name now marks the station where the centennial celebration was held.
Former Fire Chief Dave Wells spent nearly two decades leading Maxwell Fire at the turn of the 21st century as the department’s role was steadily shifting. During his tenure, calls for medical aid increased, and the department expanded its emergency response well beyond fires to meet the needs of a growing and aging rural population.
Wells, also part of a multi-generation firefighting family in Maxwell, retired in 2015 and handed the reins to Cohen, who had already served more than 10 years with the department. Under Cohen, Maxwell Fire remains the only department in Colusa County equipped with a basic transport ambulance, meaning the same volunteers who respond are often the ones transporting patients to the hospital.
Today, Maxwell Fire continues to operate with a small core, a handful of career firefighters supported by about 20 volunteers, a model rooted in both necessity and tradition. Structure fires are rare, sometimes less than one a year, Cohen said. More often, the calls are quieter and more urgent: a fall, a stroke, a crash on a rural road. The early charter members set that expectation and passed that responsibility down through generations.
Bill Barrett Sr., 90, spent more than five decades with the department. He stood among former firefighters and neighbors who returned to mark the milestone on Saturday and remembered those no longer alive.
“It’s good to see the old timers come back,” Barrett said, remembering that service is not just duty but legacy.
For some, that legacy is not something they learned, it is something they live.
Kayleigh Chambers, 19, said she has felt that pride for as long as she can remember, riding through town in parades and tossing candy from her father Kurt Chambers’ assigned fire truck, seeing the community reflect that pride right back. Her grandfather, Ron Chambers, also serves.
“Firefighting is a family tradition,” she said. “I also have an uncle who is a firefighter.”
Her younger sister, Dakota Chambers, 15, is already planning her path, looking toward a future in the fire service after she graduates.
“My dad and grandpa have been firefighters for a very long time,” Dakota Chambers said. “They work really hard in their jobs and keep Maxwell safe.”
Others may choose different directions, but the connection remains. Peyton Barrett, a Maxwell eighth grader, recalls sirens, her father Brian or grandfather Jack going off on “fire stuff,” and other small moments that reflect how closely the department is woven into everyday life.
That connection has helped sustain the volunteer model even as departments across the country struggle to recruit. A decade ago, Maxwell faced the same concern, an aging roster and fewer young people stepping forward.
Today, participation has improved, with the millennial generation beginning to take its place, Cohen said, especially as new opportunities in firefighting emerge. When the Sites Reservoir project is built about 10 miles west of town, the department will need to maintain a staff of career firefighters.
“We’re pretty optimistic with the lake going in and efforts to expand the fire department to 24-hour staffing, getting more paid personnel on,” Cohen said. “Right now, our main focus is the lake.”
The department also continues to respond to wildland fires as part of the state system, often arriving first before larger agencies take command. More often, firefighters respond to moments when help must come from close to home.
That is what 100 years has built: a Maxwell Fire Department that shows up for itself. The tones drop, and someone goes.