Polk County Fire District No.1 was originally named Southeast Polk Rural Fire Protection District, which was established in 1947, and included the communities of Airlie, Buena Vista and Suver. Then in 1985, the District annexed Fire Departments from the cities of Independence and Monmouth.
As a result of this annexation, Southeast Polk Rural Fire Protection District
was then renamed to Polk County Fire District No.1. In 1992, the fire district annexed Pedee Rural Fire Protection District.

Today, Polk County Fire District No.1 is a combination Career and Volunteer Fire District of four fire stations covering 185 square miles servicing a population of approximately 25,500 people in Southeast Polk County and Western Marion County. The cities of Monmouth (Pop. 9,565) and Independence (Pop. 8,030) continue to form the heart of the District, with the communities of Buena Vista, Suver, Airlie, and Pedee forming the rural areas.

The Fire District is a full-service community delivery system providing fire suppression, prevention & education, fire investigations, structural plans review and inspections, Fire/EMS training, advanced life-support ambulance, surface water rescue, honor guard, Boy Scouts Explorer program, support, and other specialized services. Polk County Fire District No.1 is made up of six
staff positions, three shift Captains/Paramedics, six shift Firefighter/Paramedics, nine Resident Volunteers and seventy four Volunteer members (Fire/EMS/Support/Explorers).

During 2008, the District answered 1,982 calls for service including 1476 medical calls, 103 Service Calls, 98 motor vehicle accidents (MVC), 89 false alarms, 78 structure fires, 63 misc. fires, 36 other fires, 26 burn complaints and 13 mutual aids.