In the fall of 1947, residents began to put together a local volunteer fire company. At that time, the nearest departments to the Burke area were Annandale and Fairfax City. Their area spread all the way to the county borders along the Occoquan River and what is now Centreville. This was a sparsely populated area principally populated by farming families. The Burke Volunteer Fire Department was incorporated on January 29, 1948, with nonprofit status granted just a few days later. Burke VFD assumed responsibility for an area of 91 square miles and a population of about 9,000 residents. By 1949 the department had 47 active volunteers, and ran 26 calls in that year.