Newport’s firefighting history began with the Memphremagog Hose Company, organized in 1885 as the first fire station of the Newport Village Fire Department. In the late 19th century, the Memphremagog Hose Company, which included the former Batesville Company, and the West Derby Fire Department joined together to protect the new city. The Batesville Company, one of the earliest firefighting units in the Newport area, was created and sponsored by the Frost Veneer Company to protect its mill; its one-story red firehouse stood on mill property, and the first firefighters were most likely millworkers. The West Derby Hose Company, located at the end of Spring Street, was created at the end of the 19th century. In 1918, under the new city charter, the Memphremagog Hose Company reorganized and changed its name to the Newport Fire Department. In 1920, the department acquired its first motorized equipment, an Oldsmobile Combination Chemical and Hose Truck. In 1925, a new fire station, Central Fire Station, was erected at the end of Field Avenue and served as Newport’s fire station for over 60 years until it was taken down in 1998. In 1996, city voters decided to sell the Field Avenue fire station to the State of Vermont to fund construction of a new, larger fire station, completed in 1998 on Clyde Street near the Interstate highway.