The District 8 Volunteer Fire Department is the Counties newest Fire District and it was established as a County Volunteer Fire Department in 1996. It is the only Chaves County Volunteer Fire Department located on a State Correctional Facility. This department currently has 20 personnel, is housed on the

Correctional Facility grounds and has apparatus consisting of:

One Pumper that is a:
1983 GMC 7,000 Pumper with a 1,000gpm pump and a 750 gallon tank.

Two Initial attack vehicles consisting of:
1977 GMC 6500 with a 500gpm and a 500-gallon tank,
1961 International with a 500gpm and a 500-gallon tank.

And one brush truck, which is:
2001 Ford F550 with a 300gpm pump with a 500-gallon tank.

The inmates are screened and approved for the Fire Department program and respond outside of their facility to provide protection for their district and assist the surrounding districts with additional manpower as needed. They are accompanied by Corrections Officers that also work as the Officers for the Fire Department.
They are currently working on plans to construct a Fire Station House and hope to have the building completed before the end of next year.
This department has an ISO rating of 6/9 and received a State Fire Fund allotment totaling $68,807.00 to operate with this year.
The current Fire Chief for this department is Chief Barry Wilkerson, who was a Volunteer Firefighter for the Midway Volunteer Fire Department before he took over as Chief at District 8. The department had an average of 50 runs last year all were fire and mutual aid related.