There has been a lot of talk about our fire departments of in the past couple of years. And for good reason. This old country had been bone dry. Our county firefighters had a rough time , but a much appreciated period of rain slowed those fires down for a bit. Still, its a phase we go through, and we all know that there will likely be a time when those folks are out there fighting back to back fires when their communities suffer.
Fire departments across our county and Western Oklahoma have been under tremendous strain, both the men and woman who volunteer and the equipment they use. Folks throughout the county have held fundraisers and offered donations, stepping up as they seem to always do. I wouldn’t say we forget their sacrifices, because I don’t think we do. We know. We appreciate. But when the threats slow down the thoughts aren’t necessarily right on top. We really do have a great group of community service members in our county. You just can’t help but have some appreciation for what they do. These volunteers don’t just have to deal with the occasional fire. They assist in accident and storms, seeing their neighbors through difficult situations, all the while facing the same stresses of life, and often dealing with horrific circumstances.
This focus on the fire departments caused me to think back a bit, as I often do, reaching back in time through memories and recollections. Things have certainly changed over the years. When we moved to this little town it only had two fire trucks. They were parked down yonder in those two bays right off the old City Hall. If I remember right, one was an old Dodge Power Wagon, probably similar to the one pictured. Of course, the years and historians may prove me wrong, and that’s certainly okay by me. I know memories get tainted over time.
In the mid 70’s, we still had a number of businesses operating down on Main Street. Many of the folks on the fire department at that time were those business owners – the grocer, the hardware store owner, the filling station owner, farmers, mechanics, oilfield, workers, and maybe a minister or two — those were the folks we depended upon. The faces changed throughout the years. All volunteers — that much hasn’t changed.
There were no handheld radios among the firemen back then. Possibly CB radios or a shortwave where hanging under the dash on those trucks. It was before pagers too. The siren going off in town was their indication that something was wrong. When we heard that sound calling the town’s volunteers to assemble you could see men scrambling from the different corners of the town or running down the street from their business to the fire department beside the old City Hall. I reminisced on this a few years back with a former resident, and we shared a chuckle as we both remembered seeing our local grocer hurrying to the fire truck still wearing his apron.
Those were the days before bunker gear. I don’t remember them wearing helmets, but maybe they did. My guess is they just wore their caps. Heat and fire resistant boots weren’t found among those men either; most wore cowboy boots or Redwings. They pretty much wore whatever they were wearing when that siren went off. Thankfully our firefighters have better protective gear these days.
Corn brooms were essential tools for wildland fires back then. With a limited number of trucks and hoses, the brooms were used to beat down the fires. One truck might have ten brooms or more on it. I’m told by an older resident that in the early years, almost the whole town would turn out to help, and that everyone available grabbed a wet gunny sack to beat the grass fires down.
Aside from the gear, trucks, and they way they fought fires, another thing that changed is the fire itself. Much of the grass fires they had back then were native grass, though there was also a considerable amount of wheat being grown. Years earlier, broom corn was a prominent crop, and I’d bet those were some crazy fires. The Conservative Reserve Program (CRP) was started in 1985 to reduce soil erosion and reduce the amount of land in production. These grasses are tall, thick stands, and their uses are regulated. There are both emergency and non-emergency grazing and haying regulations. In times of distress, these CRP areas leave the countryside dotted with large amounts of tall, dry grass, which often seems to be sitting around waiting for a lightning strike or a spark off a chain dragging down the highway; making blazing fires all that more difficult for our firefighters today. I somehow doubt wet gunny sacks and straw brooms would be as effective these days.
As the structure of the fire department was a little more conducive to an ‘all hands on deck’ way of handling things back in those days, on occasion, there were a few times some of us got away with following the trucks out to the grass fire to help. I remember at least three pretty good sized fires we participated in. We weren’t the only ones jumping in to help the regulars back then. Historically, Highway 23 North toward the state line, has frequently been a point of wild fire, especially around the Meade Lake area. I remember pulling up to see pickups lined up in the ditch as farmers and others joined in the fight. I think we had to walk a quarter of a mile to meet up with one of the trucks.
While we might not have been the only ones jumping in to help, but we were probably the only ones who rolled down the windows and made our own siren noise as we drove out to the fire. And we were likely the only ones as excited to help fight the fire as we would have been if we were starting in a Friday night football game. We were high school students at the time, not really old enough to join the fire department, young enough, and naive enough to considered ourselves ‘unoffical’ wildland fire fighters.
For us it was an adventure, something to pull us away from the ordinary. But for those who do it all the time, it is much more. Yes, certainly a firefighter’s adrenaline starts pumping when that call comes in, but they also know they could face almost anything when they get out in that field or when they have to face off with a structure fire. They’ve seen their friends, neighbors, and teammates impacted by the force of nature. Of course, at that age, I’m sure we thought we’d already pulled at least a thousand stunts which brought us just as close to danger as showing up to help at a grass fire. But as with many things we did in our youth, we didn’t always understand the risks. Life has shown us, fighting fires can be a dangerous task. Though we didn’t get any grief when we showed up and grabbed a broom, we might have been given some side-eye glances. Afterward, we were thanked and reminded we couldn’t do that all the time.
I never made it to be an official volunteer fireman, though my friends and family did. I had hoped to one day actually join the fire department and contribute as my dad, and my brothers eventually did, and my kids. I went away to college and when I came back, my job kept me away from town most of the time. It didn’t really seem fair to join and rarely be able to show up.
Our family learned the hard way the importance of a local fire department, and because of that, my middle son joined the fire department just as soon as he was eighteen. His younger brother did so as well. My oldest son volunteers for the fire department in the community where he now lives. I am proud to have had all three sons who served in their communities as firefighters, and a daughter who serves as dispatch for those responders. I hear we have a number of young volunteers on our local department these days. It is amazing to have our youth take on that kind of responsibility. Your community appreciates your willingness to serve.
Yes, things have changed tremendously. No longer are those wildfires native grass fires, today our firefighters fight pockets of tall grass which burns hotter, travels faster, and feeds the hunger of those flames. Now, our volunteers have better safety gear and equipment, but its still dangerous out there in the midst of those flames. The equipment has changed by leaps, as has the expectation that they all have protective equipment. Unfortunately, the expense of that equipment and the damage the fires and terrain does to the equipment has grown in proportion. On some of the bigger fires, they get aerial support from the Forestry Service, large air drops which help slow things down. Warnings of fire danger, and staging of equipment and man power help them get a handle on things quicker.
Communication has improved as well. Departments can communicate with each other better. Dispatch has better ability to inform them of conditions, changes, assets, and locations. Leadership has improved with those other improvements, having better ability to take control, plan, organize, and adapt to ever evolving situations. I listened to the scanner during one of the bigger fires. The professionalism and organization of the command post which was set up was simply amazing. The structure of our volunteer departments have changed as well. It isn’t really safe to show up as an ‘unofficial’ firefighters of yesteryear (probably wasn’t then either). There are too many liabilities for that to happen. Those structure changes also lend to better training and more knowledge.
A few things haven’t changed: Our firefighters still come from different parts of our communities, and they are still volunteers giving of both self and time. They still need our help in finding the funds to serve and maintain equipment, even when the fires slow down. The Beaver Herald Democrat graciously lists the fire departments and where donations can be made each week. We still appreciate our local volunteers for all they do for our communities, just like they did in the old days. And they are still Local Heroes – day in and day out.
