Though the surroundings were brand new, a get together Saturday to dedicate a new fire station on Saratoga Road brought back memories of the old station up the road and how firefighting used to be done on South Whidbey.

The event brought current and retired firefighters, their families and community members together for an afternoon of food, stories and a little gawking at Fire Protection District 3’s freshest building, which comfortably houses three district vehicles. Prior to moving into the new structure, firefighters at the old Saratoga station only had room for two vehicles and not much else.

Clancy Schroder, a retired firefighter who lives in the Langley area, remembered things being a little different when he was a firefighter at the old Saratoga station near Bells Beach in the 1960s.

“We didn’t have radios, so when there was a fire, the first person to the station blew the siren and we all came running,” he said. “The volunteers who got there in time rode on the back of the truck — if you were late you took your car.”

The stories Schroder told probably seemed both funny and strange to most current Fire District 3 volunteer firefighters, who get constant guidance from Island County’s 911 dispatch center.

Without help on the radio, getting to a fire 40 years ago was not an exact science. Schroder related an incident in which both Freeland and Saratoga were responding to the same fire.

“We met on the highway going in opposite directions,” he said. “Both fire engine drivers slammed on the brakes and backed up so we could figure out where we were supposed to go.”

Saturday’s dedication and open house was hosted by the volunteer firefighters from the Saratoga station and included a barbecue lunch, cooked by Bob Elliot, chairman of the district’s board of commissioners, and his brother, Don.

The Elliots prepared a traditional menu from their native state of Hawaii, a menu they said had special significance. Bob Elliot explained that the barbecued pork on the event menu is traditionally served at celebrations such as the birth of a child and — the opening of a new fire station — chicken for a little sweetness in life, and noodles are for long life.

“I hope this station is here for 30 years,” Elliott said.

The district started planning the Saratoga station in 1996. The building, which was finished last spring, cost more than $300,000 to build. FD3 did not occupy it immediately after it was finished due to riviting flaws in the siding.

The new station is about a mile closer to Langley than the previous station.