Coates Bend Volunteer Fire and Rescue is the Community's first response force to all hazards and emergencies in the Coates Bend, Turkeytown, Gaston, and Owls Hollow areas.

Coates Bend Volunteer Fire Department was organized November 2, 1977. A community meeting was called and the people of the community met in the parking lot of Macedonia Baptist Church of Coates Bend. They took name of volunteers to serve as Firefighters, as men of the community filled out papers. They sought for and got 35 men to commit to be Volunteer Firemen.

These firemen then held an election for Board of Directors, these were the first board members: Dewitt Lasseter, Earl Graham, Charles Granger and Steve Ashley. The following members have served or are serving as Board members; Eddie Blythe, Don Clement, Curtis Roe, Leon McDaniel, Lynn Chapman, Michael Prickett and Neal Martin. The Board selected Sam Boatfield as the first Chief of the Department. The following members have served as Chief of the Department: Sam Boatfield, Donnie Hale, Jeff Sauls, Keith Mitchell and current Chief is Michael Barton.

Since those early days in November of 1977, the department has grown from helping out at a few fires every year to now providing professional fire, rescue, roadway incident response, and basic emergency medical coverage over 300 times per year for a 33 square miles area of unincorporated rural northeast Etowah County, Alabama.

The area appears to be emerging from a primarily agricultural based region to a residential community. Coates Bend Volunteer Fire Department's coverage area currently contains one thousand and fifty households and a population of approximately three thousand five hundred residents.

Gaston School, the only kindergarten through twelfth grade school in Etowah County occupies fifty three acres located on United States Highway 411 which runs through the community. Currently, construction is beginning for the eight mile project to four-lane this highly traveled thoroughfare. Also, located on U.S. Highway 411 is an assisted living facility with twenty-five residents. Over twenty miles of the Coosa River, sixteen miles of Lookout Mountain which is part of the Appalachian Mountain chain, and fourteen miles of Shinbone Ridge run through the coverage area.

Under the leadership of Chief Michael Barton, Coates Bend Fire-Rescue continues to strive to better serve our community through professional and progressive training and project implementation. To accomplish this, Coates Bend is always looking for individuals to make themselves available to "proudly serve" our community in a variety of operational and support roles.