In 2001 Mount Ulla-Bear Poplar Volunteer Fire Department merged with Centenary VFD to form class 5 West Rowan Volunteer Fire Department. It consists of four fire stations - Centenary, Bear Poplar, Mount Ulla, and Miranda - covering the area of 49 square miles of rural homes and farmland with approximately 3,000 people living in the district. West Rowan Fire Department is a volunteer non-profit entity governed by the Board of Directors. Like all Rowan fire department, it is funded through fire taxes. In the last decades the number of calls steadily increased, requiring more volunteers, effort, time, and money to keep volunteer departments in operation. In the late 1980s Rowan Emergency Medical Services (EMS) started Medical Responder Program that trains and certifies firefighter teams to respond to medical emergencies when EMS is called. At present as of 2018 over fifty percent of calls for West Road VFD are medical emergencies. Medical emergencies account for the rise in overall response rates. Miller Air Park, a private airport  In 1898 the North Carolina Midland Railroad extended Winston-Salem-Mocksville branch to Mooresville, where it connected to the Atlantic, Tennessee and Ohio Railroad. Mooresville junction created a through route directly connecting Winston Salem with Charlotte. The railroad branch operated as a secondary main line. Scheduled manifest trains transported three primary products---furniture, textile, and tobacco products. Passenger trains, Carolina and Asheville Special, operated between the two endpoints of Winston Salem and Charlotte which also provided connections to points beyond until the 1960s when automobile and airplane travel made passenger trains obsolete. Mount Ulla was a scheduled stop for passenger trains, while Bear Poplar and Mazeppa were flag stops. Steele's Feed and Seed (Bear Poplar) and Mount Ulla Flour Mill were commercial shippers along the rail line. In 1915 Southern Railway leased the railroad branch. Today Norfolk Southern operates what is called a NS "L" Line through Mount Ulla. Historically Mount Ulla has been a farming community and has remained such till today. Some of the notable farms and farm stores in the area are   Plans are underway to build a solar farm in Mount Ulla. Modern-day Mount Ulla encompasses many smaller historic communities within its boundaries. Their number is indicative of smaller scale local communities that evolved in rural Rowan County when transportation was not readily available. The communities that completely or partially fall into the boundaries of Mount Ulla are:   The Mill Bridge Scenic Byway designated by N.C.Department of Transportation goes through a significant part of Mount Ulla.