Norwich — In 1943, the East Great Plain, or the West Side of Norwich, looked a lot different from the four-lane commercial strip connecting Interstate 395 to downtown that now dominates the area.

But long before the frequent vehicle crashes that now keep emergency response crews busy, residents and farmers in the then-remote section of the city realized they needed fire protection. So, meetings were held in a former one-room schoolhouse at the corner of West Main Street and New London Turnpike and participants agreed to form the East Great Plain Volunteer Fire Department.

The new fire station was built on the site of the school building, which was torn down at some point.

This weekend, the department known as EGP will begin a weeklong celebration of its May 1943 founding. Festivities will begin with a rededication of the firehouse at 10 a.m. Sunday, followed by an open house with free food for attendees.

Starting Thursday, Aug. 9, and running through Sunday, Aug. 12, a carnival will be held on the grounds of Three Rivers Community College at 574 New London Turnpike.

The highlight of the celebration will be Saturday, Aug. 11. The East Great Plain 75th anniversary parade will begin at 5 p.m. at the Montessori Discovery School at the junction of New London Turnpike and Dudley Street and will progress along New London Turnpike to the fire station, with parade trucks veering to the left onto Old Salem Road just short of the station.

Trucks and participants then will go to Three Rivers to join the carnival for a post-parade celebration, including a DJ and fireworks, sponsored by Norwich Public Utilities, at 9 p.m.

The department is selling raffle tickets for $1 for the chance to “push the plunger” to launch the fireworks, East Great Plain Fire Chief Keith Milton said. Tickets are available at the fire station, from member firefighters or at the carnival.

Information on all the activities and an application to participate in the parade is available at the department’s website, www.egpfd.org.

"There wasn't much out there," city Historian Dale Plummer said of the area in the 1940s. Development was mostly rural residential homes and a few businesses. The New London County Fairgrounds was located off New London Turnpike across from where Three Rivers is located now but the fair already had died out by the mid-1940s.

Plummer said the road configuration of West Main Street, New London Turnpike and Salem Turnpike was the same, with much narrower two-lane roads.

The residential population in the area was growing in East Great Plain, along with the need for fire coverage, Plummer said.

"It was a rural area about to become suburban," he said. "That probably signaled the success of the East Great Plain Fire Department."

Milton credited firefighter Patrick Coleman with researching the history of the department during the past year. Coleman spent hours in the station’s upstairs, reading meeting minutes and accounts of major events, culling the highlights for a book chronicling the department’s 75 years for members. Milton said he hopes the book will be printed in time for the celebration.

The department started with receipt of a state-owned water pumper carried on a trailer. A new firefighter had a vehicle that could haul the pumper to the station and then off to fire scenes in those early days, Milton said.

East Great Plain now has 50 active members projected to attend 2,400 training hours this year. Last year the department responded to about 900 calls, the most among Norwich’s five volunteer fire departments, including 610 accidents and 46 fires, according to the department’s budget and summary of activities.

c.bessette@theday.com