By John Howell Sr.

The Mt. Olivet Volunteer Fire Department memorialized its former chief Sunday, naming its 2007 Peterbilt tanker for the late Don Hall.

Hall was a career fireman with the Memphis Fire Department from 1957 to 1982 whose efforts to organize a community fire department began as he approached a retirement move to the Mt. Olivet community.

Hall passed away January 30. He was 76.

The Mt. Olivet Fire District  includes about 55 square miles and 3,000 county residents, and has “just been recertified as a class 8” fire insurance rating, said Fire Chief Arthur Biggers said.

The classification allows district residents lower rates for fire insurance.

The district was created in 1976 and the fire station was completed in 1979, Biggers said.

Hall was instrumental in the formation of the district and its fire department, serving as a fire district commissioner as well as fire chief, Biggers said.

“Without his help we wouldn’t get the grant money,” Biggers said about raising funds for equipment purchases. Biggers said that Hall was “very instrumental in getting fire plugs in the Mt. Olivet Water Association.”

Assistant Chief Gary Hartman said that he recalled the department’s first fire-fighting equipment — a World War II vintage Jeep, an International pumper and “an old milk truck converted to a tanker.”

“The Jeep wouldn’t go but 30 miles an hour,” Hartman said, “but it would drive over anything.”

In addition to the 2007 Peterbilt tanker named Sunday for Hall, the department is presently equipped with a 2000-gallon pumper engine, a 1996 Ford rescue truck and a 2005 Ford F-350 crew truck, Biggers said.

Mt. Olivet’s volunteer fire fighters were joined by Hall’s family members and other friends, including state Rep. Warner McBride, for Sunday’s dedication.