Editing Bethany Beach, Delaware (section)

===Fire department===
[[File:Bethany Beach Vol Fire Co, Station 70 (5591096784).jpg|thumbnail|The Bethany Beach Volunteer Fire Department Company]]
The Bethany Beach Fire Department is a [[combination fire department]] that operates two quints, two engines, a rescue pumper, an aerial unit, a brush truck, three ambulances, and multiple other utility pieces.

The fire department serves the entire area south of [[Indian River (Delaware)|Indian River Inlet]], east of the [[Little Assawoman Bay|Assawoman Canal]], and north of the Maryland state line at the southern edge of [[Fenwick Island, Delaware|Fenwick Island]], Delaware. It has a fire station in Bethany Beach and a substation in Fenwick Island and offers an emergency medical center, operated for it by the [[Beebe Medical Center]] of [[Lewes, Delaware|Lewes]], Delaware. It cooperates fully with the fire departments of [[Dagsboro, Delaware|Dagsboro]], [[Frankford, Delaware|Frankford]], [[Millville, Delaware|Millville]], [[Rehoboth Beach, Delaware|Rehoboth Beach]], [[Roxana, Delaware|Roxana]], and [[Selbyville, Delaware|Selbyville]], Delaware, and [[Ocean City, Maryland|Ocean City]], Maryland.
<ref name="Meehan, p. 126">{{cite book|title=Bethany Beach Memoirs: A Long Look Back|year=1998|publisher=Harold E. Dukes|author=James D. Meehan|edition=Fourth Printing|author2=Harold E. Dukes|page=126}}</ref>

The fire department was formed in June 1948 with ten members. It received its first equipment, a single used pumper, later that summer and answered its first call in September 1948. The town purchased property for its fire station in 1949, and the fire department held its first [[Bingo (U.S.)|bingo]] game in March 1957. Its emergency medical center opened in the early 1980s, and its Fenwick Island substation began operations in July 1987.<ref name="Meehan, p. 125"/>