Before 1933 there was no organized fire protection in town. From 1933 to 1946 most of the Town of Putnam Valley had no fire coverage. Mohegan Fire Department only covered the southern part of the town, below Church Road and Cimmaron Road.

The very first mention in the official record of a Putnam Valley Fire District appears in the Town Board minutes of March 16, 1946. The Putnam Valley Town Board passing a resolution asking the New York State Legislature to amend existing Town Law so that the part of the Mohegan Lake Fire District that was in Putnam Valley could be dissolved.

The reason stated in the resolution was that "resident taxpayers of the said Town of Putnam valley have indicated a desire to withdraw from the Mohegan Fire District and to form a Fire District including the whole of said Town of Putnam Valley…"

Subsequently, the Putnam Valley Fire Department was incorporated on September 24, 1946, covering the entire Town. The first regular meeting was held on October 8, 1946. Returning World War II veterans, Putnam Valley men who were volunteers in the Mohegan Lake Fire Department and members of the World War II Auxiliary Police were the initial force behind the formation of a Putnam Valley Fire Department. There were 40 or 41 Charter members of the Department, depending on whether you count Howard Thomsen as a charter member. Howard Thomsen did the legal work for setting up the Department and his signature is on the charter as such.

There were other men who were there at the formation of the Department but did not get to be Charter members because there was a limit of 40 signatures on the Charter. Early minutes indicate that there were 75 members of the Department by 1947. No record was kept of whether they were Active members or Associate members. Frank Rush was selected as the first President and John "Skip" Thomsen the first Chief. The first Board of Directors was apparently Howard Thomsen (Chairman), Charles Ackler and Tom Rippolon.

On April 5, 1947, the New York State Legislature passed a bill (Chapter 687 of the Laws of 1947), introduced by Assemblyman D, Mallory Stevens, permitting the Town of Putnam Valley to conduct a special town election on or before July 1, 1948, to dissolve the part of the Mohegan Fire District that was located within Putnam Valley and to form a separate fire district. Two weeks later Howard Thomsen asked the Town Board to schedule the election at the earliest possible date. The Town Board set the vote for Saturday, May 31, 1947, at the Putnam Valley Fire Department Building. There ensued several months of delays in the vote. There were several public hearings, and negotiations with the Mohegan Lake Fire District before the election was finally held on August 9, 1947.

The Town Board acted as tellers for the vote. Special books were prepared with the pages captioned: "I hereby affirm that I am a property owner and elector and am duly qualified to vote on the Mohegan Fire District proposition for the dissolution from the Mohegan Fire District." The special voting books cannot be found so there is no official record of the vote, However, a short history of the Town of Putnam Valley written in the middle of the 1960's states that the vote to dissolve the Mohegan Lake Fire District passed by only two votes. That history credits Howard Thomsen for the information about the Fire Department. Even after the dissolution of the Mohegan Lake Fire District in Putnam Valley their company covered part of the Town, including all of Lake Peekskill, until January 1, 1960. On that date the Putnam Valley Volunteer Fire Department took over fire protection for the whole Town.

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