Older records are not available, but the county has signed contracts with volunteer fire departments since at least 1988, said Sandra Hill, director of the county finance department.

A volunteer fire department was formed in the early 1950s in Moyock, probably the first in the county, said Don Bell, who helped found the Moyock volunteers. They raised the money and bought a used fire truck and ambulance from Chesapeake, he said.

“We didn’t use a dime of taxpayers’ money,” Bell said.

Since then, Currituck’s volunteer fire departments and their buildings have served as centers where the residents have often met for chicken dinners or to debate community problems. Volunteer fire fighters and volunteer rescue squads were often the same people.

But the population has more than tripled since then, and as traffic has increased so have the number and severity of accidents. In recent years, the county hired full-time emergency medical personnel. Many of the full-time emergency employees also work as volunteer fire fighters, Poyner said.

Medical emergency calls far outnumber fire calls, according to county records. Last year, there were about 330 fire calls, including Corolla. During the same time, there were more than 2,000 emergency calls, not including Corolla. The Corolla emergency figures were not readily available.

The volunteer chiefs and county officials are scheduled to meet Monday.