The Manistee Fire Station, which is 130 years old, now has a Guiness World Record title: "Oldest Continuously Manned Operating Fire Station in the World" following a two-year application process.
The station has been fully manned and operated for 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and 365 days a year since its opening in 1869. It is the first to ever get this award.
The application for the award included hundreds of photographs, thousands of pages of text and more than 25 audio and video files.
“The Manistee Fire Station continues to tell the stories and carry the memories of all the firefighters who came before, including those currently serving and those who will serve in the future. Historic places like the Manistee Fire Station matter because they give us a deeper appreciation and understanding of our past in a way that written documents can’t,” Manistee Engineer Paramedic Fred LaPoint said while at a dedication event for the station.
Manistee Fire Chief Tim Kozal recalled the moment in which LaPoint came up with the idea to pursue a world record.
“I was intrigued and asked Fred if he wanted to tackle it. Here we are more than two years later...I am very proud of Fred and his diligence to the cause," Kozal said.
LaPoint said the task was a "labor of love" and a way to "pay it forward" to his fellow firefighters and the community. LaPoint spent hundreds of hours sorting through archives to prove the station had been open and staffed for 130 years.
A new sign which features the station's world record designation is set to be mounted outside of the fire station.
