Founded by real estate developer Kenneth E. Behring and officially incorporated on July 19, 1963. Mr. Behring had a plan to offer an active bedroom community with the convenience of a condominium and the privacy of a single-family home. This concept quickly gained momentum. The homes consisted of one or two bedrooms with a garage or carport that surrounded a common clubhouse which contained a pool and a meeting room for activities. The residents would pay a monthly fee that would cover the lawn maintenance, as well as, painting and roof cleaning. Tamarac was advertised to the “snowbirds” as an ideal retirement community. The name Tamarac was named after a nearby “Tamarac County Club in the nearby City of Oakland Park. The Behring Corporation, was able to purchase more land and expand, building anywhere he could put a community, which would account for the irregular boarders of the city.
The City of Tamarac annexed a small industrial section on our West side of the City from the City of Oakland Park in October of 2008, this area known as Prospect Bend.
The City of Tamarac Fire Department is a legally established agency by virtue of State Statue and Local Ordinances on January 22, 1975. It was known as the Tamarac Public Safety Department. There were seven (7), Public Safety Officers initially. These men had basic training in fire suppression, only a few had any fire certification. They would work primarily days, while two men at a time would alternate staying for the 24- hour shift. The others would respond from home via a landline phone call. The Public Safety Officers would be supplemented by some on duty police officers who had limited gear and fire training. The crew was housed in a community clubhouse located at 31st Avenue and Commercial Boulevard. The West side of the city had not been constructed, as of then.
The Public Safety Officers soon moved out of the club house and into City Hall located at 5811 NW 88 Avenue. At the time the firefighters slept in the empty jail cells and when the cells were full, they would sleep in the commission chambers on the floor. This went on until the city received a $279,098 grant, in April 1977, to build 50,000 square foot facility to house two ambulances and three suppression apparatus. This would officially be known as Tamarac Fire Station 41, located at 7501 NW 88th Avenue.
Tamarac Fire Department built their second Fire Station in 1980. It was initially designated as station 32, and later to become re-numbered Station 78. Station 78 was located at 4801 West Commercial Boulevard.
Station 78 was torn down on 05/05/2015, to replace it with a more functional building. The crew were re-located to a temporary modular unit located at 4890 NW 50 St. Tamarac, Florida 33321. While construction on the new Tamarac Fire Station 78 moves forward on the same tract of land, Station 78, was rotated to exit on NW 47 Avenue and is a three-bay building, which can effectively house ten firefighters.
